


The White Devil of the Moon

by bissek



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 115,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4509528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bissek/pseuds/bissek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Endymion and the Inner Senshi have just found the Moon Princess - a girl named Nanoha Takamachi. But Fate will not allow anything to interfere with her friend's medical leave - not even destiny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost Princess

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Prologue

Lost Princess

Queen Serenity weakly lifted herself off of the floor of her throne room. What had intended to be her daughter's birthday celebration had turned into an unimaginable calamity. Beryl, the spurned suitor of her daughter's betrothed-to-be, had called upon a demon to get revenge upon the man who rejected her and the girl who succeeded where she had failed.

All of the defenses of the Moon Kingdom were designed to protect against threats coming from outside the solar system. Metallia's emergence from the sun had caught all of their defenses completely off guard. They had been overwhelmed and destroyed in a matter of hours. Where nine planets and over two dozen moons had been inhabited yesterday, now there was only one inhabited planet and one inhabited moon. And the latter would cease to be inhabited when the queen inevitably succumbed to her wounds.

Serenity had managed to seal Metallia away with the power of the Ginzuisho, but she knew better than to think that it would stay sealed forever. Sooner or later, the creature would break free, and when it did, it would try to complete what it had started. The queen could only see one way to possibly prevent that.

Calling upon the power of the Ginzuisho for one final time, the dying monarch called up the souls of her Senshi, who had all fallen in her defense so that she would have the time she needed to seal Metallia. These she sent into the future, so that they would be reborn in a later age when they would be needed to stop Metallia again. She repeated the process with Prince Endymion, who had fallen protecting her daughter, and with her fallen daughter, who would have to finish what her mother had died to stop. As she performed the final enchantment, Serenity coughed, hacking up blood from the wounds she had suffered during the sealing. Fighting to regain her breath, she forced herself to complete the final spell before falling to the floor, her body unable to handle the dual strain of wielding greater magics through the Ginzuisho and the grievous wounds that Metallia had given her. As the light faded from her eyes, she took comfort in the fact that she had been able to give the people of the sole remaining inhabited planet in the system a chance to escape the fate that her own kingdom had suffered.

What she didn't know was that the interruption caused by her cough had distorted the effects of her last spell. Serenity had intended for all of the people she had sent into the future to be reborn at roughly the same time and in the same general area, so that they would be able to find each other easier. But because of that unintended mistake, Princess Serenity would be born earlier than expected, into a family that did not live in the vicinity of the families of the other Senshi-to-be.

* * *

**Thousands of years later…**

In a hospital in the small city of Unimari, Japan, Momoko Takamachi gave birth to a baby girl. The girl's father was not present – Shiro Takamachi had been seriously injured in what would be his final job as a bodyguard and was currently sedated in a room on the other side of the hospital.

The most likely futures for the infant Nanoha would be to take over the coffee shop owned by her mother or to take up the Fuwa-ryu and become a bodyguard like her father had been. But as the heir to a legacy so old that humanity had forgotten it had ever existed, the ultimate destiny of the child would turn out quite differently…

* * *

**Nine years later…**

Nanoha Takamachi stood on the rooftop and looked at the wreckage that several blocks of the city had become, and knew that it was her fault.

She had always felt that she had no real direction in her life. Everyone else she knew had some notion about what purpose they had in life, while she did not. That had ended when she met a talking ferret named Yuuno Scrya. Taking up the magical staff named Raising Heart and joining in his quest to track down and contain the magical artifacts that the archeologist had lost before they could be accidentally triggered and wreak havoc on the planet had given her the purpose she had been looking for her entire life.

That had been a week before. This morning, she had decided that she could afford to take a day off to rest, given that she had already tracked down and sealed two of the Jewel Seeds. That had been a mistake. A Jewel Seed had been found and inadvertently activated, causing an enormous tree to sprout in the middle of the city. And after sealing the artifact, she recognized the person who had found it as a member of the junior soccer league her father coached. She had been within a hundred meters of a Jewel Seed all afternoon, and hadn't noticed. And because she had slacked off, a sizable portion of the city's roads would have to be cordoned off for repairs.

Nanoha learned a very important lesson that day. When other people are counting on you, whether they know it or not, you cannot afford to stand down. If she was not actively working to resolve the current situation, then she would be preparing so that she would be ready for the next one, whatever that might be. She would not make the same mistake again.

* * *

**Six Years Later…**

Fate Harlaown sat in the hospital room, staring at Nanoha's unconscious form and cursing her own foolishness. She had known about Nanoha's insane work ethic. She should have realized that the girl couldn't keep up that vigorous a training regimen without consequences.

For as long as they'd been friends, Nanoha had woken up at 4:30 in the morning to train before breakfast – for two hours. This would be followed by virtual combat training – performed simultaneously with whatever other activity she had scheduled for the day. After that, she would perform additional magic training in the evening before dinner – and additional training after dinner until bedtime if she didn't have any other work to do. On top of all this, she had her device draining her magic 24/7 to build up her reserves. A normal mage would have collapsed under that regimen a long time ago. Fate had assumed that being ranked as a AAA-ranked mage at the age of nine, Nanoha could take the strain. All that really meant was that it took longer for her to reach the breaking point. Which it had at the worst possible moment.

Nanoha's powers had given out on her during a mission – leaving her vulnerable in the middle of a fight. The wounds she had received had nearly been fatal. Nanoha had been in a coma for the past week, leaving Fate to blame herself for everything she possibly could have done to prevent this and didn't. If she had done something about Nanoha's workaholic tendencies before she pushed too far, or if she had been on the mission to help her, this might not have happened. And because those hypothetical actions hadn't been taken, the most important person in Fate's life was lying near death.

If it wasn't for Nanoha, Fate Harlaown would still be Fate Testarossa, the unloved daughter of a criminal who hated her for the fact that she looked exactly like her dead sister without actually being her. She would likely still be throwing herself into any task that Precia put before her in the futile hope of winning her mother's approval, only to be beaten for any perceived shortcoming that her mother could think of when the task was done – and leaving Fate believing that she actually deserved it. It was only thanks to Nanoha that Fate was able to win free of her mother's control and meet the Harlaowns, who became the family that Precia Testarossa had never been willing to provide her.

Nanoha woke up after spending two weeks in a coma. She then spent the next six moths going through a slow and painful convalescence as she relearned how to walk. Fate was with her the whole time, supporting her friend throughout the long process, helping her through the times when Nanoha was ready to give into despair and believe that she would never regain the physical strength to walk or the magical strength to fly. Fate had inadvertently failed Nanoha once. She had no intention of doing so ever again.

* * *

Nanoha, Fate, and Aruf walked up to the Takamachi residence. Nanoha may have recovered sufficiently to be allowed out of the hospital, but she was still far from fully recovered. Because of this, Nanoha had found herself under orders to take some of the leave time she had been accumulating ever since she was first recruited into the TSAB at the age of nine. Fate had volunteered to join her in order to make sure that actually spent her vacation time resting, rather than repeating the same mistakes that had caused Nanoha's collapse in the first place. Nanoha barely made it through the door before being spotted by her mother.

"Nanoha!" Momoko cried out, rushing to embrace her daughter. "We were so worried when we heard about what happened."

The rest of the Takamachi family ran to greet the returning girl. As Nanoha reassured her family that while she had been seriously hurt, she was expected to make a full recovery, she found herself wondering why she hadn't been back to visit her family once since graduating from Junior High. Her devotion to her job had taken her away from her family for far too long. They spent the next hour catching up on events when Nanoha's sister dropped an unexpected comment.

"It's a good thing that they let you out of the hospital now." Miyuki said. "A little longer and you would have missed the wedding."

"Wedding? What wedding?" Nanoha asked.

"Kyouya's, of course! He and Shinobu finally got around to setting a date!"

Nanoha blinked. She had known that her brother and Shinobu had been dating, of course – they'd been going out for as long as she'd known the Tsukimura family, and she'd been friends with Shinobu's little sister since first grade. She hadn't known that they had gotten around to scheduling a wedding, even if everyone had known that it was going to happen sooner or later.

Two days later, Nanoha and Fate were starting to regret Kyouya's timing. They had left Mid-Childa so that Nanoha could get some rest. But with all the wedding planning going on, the Takamachi household was anything but restful. It was clear that if they were going to get the peace and quiet that Nanoha needed to recover, they would have to seek it someplace else. They decided that it would be best if they left Unimari and got a hotel room in Tokyo. Given the fact that the Takamachi family home and business were close to the local train station, it would be easy enough for them to drop by without having to worry about having to worry about getting caught up in all the wedding preparations. Once the wedding was over, things would calm down enough that for it to be possible to rest at her family home, even if her brother wouldn't be around.

Things would be much calmer in Tokyo. After all, it wasn't like Tokyo ever had to deal with any of the situations that had popped up in Unimari back when Nanoha and Fate were nine.

* * *

Fate and Nanoha's assumption that Tokyo would be peaceful was wrong, though they couldn't be blamed for not realizing that. For the past year, Tokyo had been a city under siege, the chosen battleground of a war that had resumed after an intermission lasting millennia.

The threat that Queen Serenity had feared had materialized. Beryl had been reborn, and had awakened to the powers she had wielded back at the fall of the Silver Millennium. Her youma forces had been prowling Tokyo, seeking methods to drain the energy that she would need to revive Metallia. All that was stopping her from achieving her goals was Serenity's final spell.

The reborn Senshi, under the command of Sailor Venus, had been reborn and were fighting the youma wherever they appeared. But even though they had been successful in keeping the problem contained to the point where the average man on the street considered the very existence of the Senshi and the youma to be just another urban legend, they knew they were fighting a losing war.

The Senshi could locate and destroy the youma whenever they appeared in Tokyo, but they still didn't know where they were coming from. And every day that a youma was able to operate without being defeated was a day that it could gather energy and send it to wherever they came from. By careful diligence, the Senshi had cut the Dark Kingdom's supply of life energy to a trickle, but even the small amount of water provided from a leaky faucet could fill a swimming pool if given enough time. If they didn't find a way to locate and defeat Beryl once and for all, she would acquire the power she needed sooner or later. And when that happened, Metallia would awaken.

The Senshi had only one hope should that come to pass – the Ginzuisho. The magical artifact that had been the core of the power of the Moon Kingdom had defeated Metallia once, and could do so again. But the crystal could only be used the Moon Queen or her heir, and the princess could not be found. The moon cats were certain that she had been reborn like the Senshi had, but they could not find any trace of her or the Ginzuisho. As Sailor Mars had put it after one failed divination attempt too many, it was as if the Princess had literally dropped off the face of the planet.

Despite the fact that her efforts always came to naught, Rei still attempted to divine the princess' location periodically. There was always the chance that she might find some clue as to where she had vanished to. And so she found herself kneeling before the Sacred Flame in the temple where she lived, hoping to scry out something – anything – about Serenity's lost heir.

For the first time in over a year of searching, Rei actually found something. She received a series of impressions, of a girl who was compassionate, but highly determined, who had recently suffered a great deal of pain. As she stared into the fire, Rei saw a blurry image start to appear. In her joy at finally managing to find a trace of the Princess, Rei's focus slipped, and the vision faded before she could make out where the Princess was.

Rei stood up and turned away from the altar. If she attempted another vision right now, she wouldn't be sufficiently rested for her shift at patrolling for youma that night. But now she knew that the princess was there to be found, and she had the impression that she wasn't all that far away. She would have to tell the other Senshi when they next met.

At the train station for the district of Tokyo known as Azabu Juuban, Nanoha looked around. She could have sworn she felt some kind of detection spell passing over her. But that was unlikely. There weren't very many mages on her home planet to be casting such a thing, after all. It was probably just a false impression given by her abused linker core as it slowly recovered from the six years of near constant strain she had recklessly placed upon it.

* * *

The other Senshi were thrilled to hear the news that the princess was somewhere in the area and beginning to awaken. When the princess returned and the Ginzuisho was found, they could finally end the war they had been embroiled in for the past year and return to a quieter life. Each of the Senshi had dreams of what they wanted to do with their lives and running around at night fighting monsters wasn't on the list. They might acknowledge that their work as Senshi was important and could only be handled by them, but they didn't want to spend their entire lives doing it.

Unfortunately, Beryl was watching some of her youma when they we destroyed by the Senshi. She heard them mention that the princess was awakening. And she did not take the news of her rival's return well.

Beryl hated Princess Serenity with every fiber of her being. If that girl had not interfered, Endymion would have been hers, and with him his throne. The possibility that Endymion had eventually given his heart to another might have been her own fault, even in part, was one she categorically refused to even consider.

If Serenity had returned, that meant that she would soon be seeking to steal Endymion from Beryl again. Beryl would not permit that to happen. She would track down and destroy the interloper before she could ruin Beryl's plans a second time.

* * *

Two moon cats wandered the streets of Tokyo. They were just as eager to find the princess as the Senshi they guided were. While they had assumed the duty of finding and preparing the Senshi as a necessity, their true duty was to serve as advisors to the throne. A duty they could not even attempt to fulfill with the queen dead and her heir missing.

The moon cats had a few advantages in their search that the Senshi did not. First, as they appeared to be cats to any causal observer, they could travel around without anyone paying them much attention, especially at times when the Senshi were tied down in school. Second, the same senses that allowed them to determine who the reborn Senshi were would allow them to detect Serenity's heir.

As Luna walked the streets, she found herself sensing someone of power. A lot of power. Realizing that this might be the missing princess, she started heading towards the person she sensed. The Mau's journey took her to a small park, where two girls were sitting on a bench, absently petting a puppy that was lying on the lap of one of them. Luna could tell that both of the girls were extremely powerful.

Luna focused her attention on the blonde girl with the puppy in her lap and quickly realized that she wasn't the one that the Mau was looking for. Luna turned her attention to the other girl. It soon became apparent that she was the one. Luna had found the Moon Princess.

After a time, the two girls got up and started to walk away. Luna slowly began to follow them. As she watched the girls, Luna noticed that the princess was walking very stiffly. She also noticed that there was something wrong about the girl's magical aura. Something had happened to cause her princess to be seriously wounded, both magically and physically.

What could have caused such a thing? Was this the reason why they hadn't been able to find the princess sooner? Luna found those questions to be very worrying as she tailed the girls and their dog, but knew that they weren't immediately important. What was important was contacting the princess and making her realize her true destiny.

* * *

A/N: I know that Nanoha's injuries took place when she was 11-12 in canon. I moved it forward because 1: I wanted it to be plausible for her and Fate to be living on their own, which sixth graders wouldn't, 2: I wanted them to be old enough that they wouldn't be bothered about not being in school (High School is optional in Japan), and 3: 20 year old Mamoru and 12 year old Nanoha as an allegedly destined couple? Squick.

How many elements of later SM seasons will turn up has not been decided, but one thing is certain: There will be not be a pink haired time traveler named Picoha.


	2. The Princess' Guard

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 1

The princess's Guard

It was a subtle thing, something that a casual observer wouldn't have noticed. Despite that, Fate immediately noticed the slight shifting of weight that indicated that Nanoha was no longer leaning against her as they walked because she wanted to, and was instead doing it because she _needed_ to.

It was a sobering thought that due to her injuries and the months spent in either a hospital bed or a wheelchair, the girl that had normally spent at least thirteen hours a day training or working was now getting worn out simply by going on a long walk. Still, it was a great improvement over how badly off Nanoha had been earlier. There had been a point during her convalescence when she couldn't even stand without something to help support her weight.

Fate's worrying about her friend's health was interrupted by a telepathic message from Aruf.

_:Fate, I think someone is following us.:_

Fate's eyes widened in surprise, but she managed to avoid alerting her limping friend that anything was out of the ordinary.

_:Are you sure, Aruf?:_

_:I've been smelling a cat – the same cat – ever since we left the park. A stray wouldn't do that, would it?:_

Fate had to agree. That didn't seem like something a normal cat would do – assuming that it really was a normal cat. Fate had seen quite a few abnormal cats over the years, such as the kitten that found a Jewel Seed and became the size of a house. Some, like the Lieze twins, were far more than mere animals. If the cat behind them was a familiar like Aruf or the Lieze twins or a shape-shifting mage like Yuuno, then this could be a problem.

But that wasn't Fate's immediate concern. First she had to get Nanoha back to their apartment so that she could rest. Once her friend was in bed, Fate could worry about the unusual cat and what it was up to.

* * *

It was strange to be fondly remembering the resiliency of one's youth before reaching twenty, but Nanoha found herself doing it anyway. Back when she first started out as a mage, she and Fate both ended up with their Linker Cores getting forcibly drained by the Wolkenritter in their quest to restore the Book of Darkness in order to save Hayate. They both recovered fully from the experience within a week. How she wished that her recovery from her self-induced core failure was anywhere near that fast. It had been months since she had been injured, and her magic had yet to recover to the point that she would be willing to attempt a flight spell. The last thing she wanted was for her magic to give out on her while in midair.

Her friends were fully aware of her slow recovery. To ensure that she didn't push herself too hard, they had installed a lockout device into Raising Heart that prevented her from fully activating the device unless she recited the full activation phrase that Yuuno used back when he had owned the device – and which Nanoha always had trouble remembering. Because of that, Nanoha was unable to use any of her more complex spells at the moment, reducing the chances of overexerting herself again.

Nanoha stood on the roof of the hotel she and Fate were staying in, looking at the night sky. Finishing the can of juice she had purchased from a vending machine, she weighed it in her hand a moment, and then tossed it into the air. A pink ball of light appeared next to Nanoha's head and shot up after the can, striking it obliquely and knocking the falling can back into the air.

As the can began to fall again, the energy ball looped around to strike the can a second time, followed by a third. Beads of sweat formed on Nanoha's forehead as she focused on controlling the spell as it knocked the can into the air again and again, counting the number of successful strikes.

Seven.

Ten.

Fourteen.

Nineteen.

As the spell came in for the twenty-first strike, it sputtered out and vanished. The can struck the floor, the dull clank of its landing sounding far louder to Nanoha's ears than it possibly could have been. She sighed. Only twenty. While far better than her previous score of five, it was still much worse than what she had been able to do back when she was ten. She picked up the can and limped back inside.

* * *

Fate knew that Nanoha was practicing magic. She had caught her friend trying to see how far she had recovered with that juice can training exercise while she was still at the hospital once. She had agreed to not rat Nanoha out to her doctors so long as she only did the exercise once a week. So far, she had kept her word on that matter.

While Nanoha knocked a can around, Fate planned to see if that unusual cat was still around. She clipped a lead onto Aruf's collar and headed outside. Her familiar would be able to smell out their tail if it was still there.

* * *

Luna had a problem. She had found her princess, and located where she was living, but she couldn't get to her. Things would have been much easier if her princess lived in a house like Rei or Minako did, but instead she was staying in a hotel building. There had to be dozens of people living in there, and there was no way to easily tell where in the building the one person she wanted to talk to was staying (a talking cat walking up to the front desk and asking the clerk would just cause more problems, especially since she didn't even know her princess's name). There was also the question of how Luna was to get to the princess if she knew which room the girl was in. It would be nice if she was staying on the first floor in a room with an open window, but Luna couldn't count on that.

Luna had been slowly circling the building, trying to figure out how to contact her princess without letting anyone else know there was a talking cat in the area. Her planning was disrupted when something landed on her. As she tried to pry herself off the pavement, she saw a red paw and realized that she was being pinned by the same puppy that had been with the princess. If the princess was with her dog, then this uncomfortable situation might end up working to her advantage.

"I've caught the cat, Fate." The dog said.

The dog could talk? Luna hadn't expected that. Well, if the princess already had a talking animal, then she wouldn't be surprised by a talking cat. Her name was Fate, was it? A fitting name for a girl with such an important destiny.

"Thank you, Aruf." A girl's voice responded. Luna found herself being picked up by the voice's owner, who she quickly recognized as the princess's companion once she was at an angle where she could see the girl.

"Alright, cat." Fate said. "I know you can understand me. Why have you been following me?"

Luna gulped. This wasn't how she expected the meeting she'd been trying to arrange to work out. She began stammering out an explanation of her actions.

"I wasn't following you. I was trying to speak with your friend."

Fate's reaction to her attempted explanation prevented her from getting much further than that.

* * *

The moment the cat started talking, Fate knew that her suspicions about its nature were correct. The moment it claimed that it wanted to talk to Nanoha, she knew that trouble was coming. And that the cat wanted Nanoha's help in dealing with it.

Fate was intimately aware of Nanoha's compassionate nature. It had only been seven years since the day that a young Nanoha had met a talking ferret and helped him recover the Jewel Seeds, never setting aside her quest despite Yuuno's continual warnings about the dangers, even when the whole situation had become known to professionals who were fully capable of taking care of everything for her and allowing the girl to return to her everyday life. Fate knew that if the cat asked Nanoha for help the way Yuuno had, she would do everything in her power to help. She wouldn't be able to help herself.

The problem was that Nanoha wasn't up to helping at the moment. Her powers had yet to recover to the levels they had been at back when she had first become a mage. If she tried using her higher level spells at this point, she might be able to get a few off, but she could potentially trigger a relapse, damaging her linker core beyond repair. Fate had had to comfort a crying Nanoha many times over the past few months as the girl worried that she might never be able to fly again. If Nanoha pushed herself too hard too soon, that nightmare could become a reality.

For similar reasons, Fate could not help herself. If she did, Nanoha would find out about it, and want to help as well, with the same result. There was no helping it: If Nanoha was to recover, the cat's problems would have to be handled by someone else. There hadn't been any sign of problems that would be of concern to the TSAB, this wasn't their fight. If the cat was capable of recognizing the Ace of Aces and coming after her specifically, then the cat knew about the TSAB, and could presumably contact them through standard channels.

Fate quickly explained what she thought was going on to Aruf telepathically. Aruf agreed; the cat had to be driven away.

* * *

Luna saw Fate's eyes widen briefly in shock, and then just as quickly narrow in determination.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, "But I'm afraid we won't be able to help you. If you would care to provide an explanation of whatever situation you've encountered, I'll pass it on and see if I can get you some assistance. That's all I can do for you at the moment."

Luna gaped. This woman was treating the fate of the world and the restoration of the Moon Kingdom as it if was some kind of minor bureaucratic issue that could be routed to the clerk at the next desk while she went on her coffee break!

"You don't understand!" Luna protested. "I have to speak to your friend in person. This is something that only she can do!"

Fate's eyes turned cold, and she let go of the cat. Luna landed smoothly, and then her eyes nearly popped from her head as she saw the small puppy transform into an enormous wolf-like creature, which started snarling at her.

"Leave. Nanoha. Alone." Fate ordered.

Luna wasn't sure what caused the sudden hostility, but the other talking animal looked ready to turn her into a chew toy. Luna fled before it could do so.

* * *

Nanoha dreamed. It was very unusual for her to dream, or at least to dream anything vividly enough to actually remember it in the morning. The last time that had happened was at the beginning of the Book of Darkness case when she was just starting out as a mage. That time she had dreamt of finding an enormous pile of sweet potatoes and eating them all. It had been so real that she honestly thought that she had been chewing on something. In the morning she woke up to find herself with a mouthful of animal hair and a very upset ferret. That had been the last time that Yuuno had slept in her bed.

In her current dream, she was walking down a hallway in a palace she had never seen before, wearing a formal gown she would never have been able to afford in real life. The hallway opened into a ballroom, hosting a formal court dance, something that Nanoha had only seen in movies. As she entered the room, a dark-haired man took her hand and led her into a dance. When the dance ended, she stared upwards into the man's eyes lovingly. The romantic moment was abruptly shattered by an enormous crashing sound, which a part of her recognized as the sound of a magical barrier being brought down by brute force from the outside. Further crashes sounded as something started smashing into the walls of the building, interspersed with the sound of people screaming as all the people in the ballroom started running around aimlessly in search of safety.

Nanoha woke up. What had that been? She had never had a dream that lifelike before. It wasn't just dreaming images. In her dream she had felt the touch of the very expensive fabric the gown had been made of, smelt the perfumes and colognes of all the other people she passed, which intermingled with each other in ways that didn't always result in a pleasant odor. She could still hum the melody of the song she had danced to. It was almost as if she had just remembered something from a long time ago, rather than having her imagination create some random tale while she slept.

Looking at the clock, Nanoha saw that it was far too early to be up and about, even by her pre-accident standards. She pulled the covers back over herself, curled up to the sleeping form of Fate on the other side of the bed, and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

Four girls, one boy, and two cats gathered at the Hikawa shrine. Once everyone was there, Luna began her story.

"I've found the princess." She announced.

The Senshi all brightened noticeably on hearing that news. With the Moon Princess located, they would be able to find the Ginzuisho. With the princess and the crystal, they could finally take the offensive against Beryl and take her down once and for all. And then the war would be over. They could set aside their duties as Senshi and be normal girls again. They had been shouldering the fate of the world for far too long, especially from the perspective of girls who had taken it up mainly because they were the only ones who could.

"When will we be able to meet her?" Minako asked.

"That… is going to be a problem." Luna admitted. "When I tried to contact the princess – whose name is Nanoha, by the way – I was stopped by someone who had been hanging around her. A blonde woman named Fate. She recognized me for what I was before I ever opened my mouth." There was an exchange of glances at that revelation. There wasn't a single one of them that hadn't been surprised when they first encountered the Moon Cats. Someone who could figure out that a cat could talk on sight and find nothing strange about this was very unusual.

"The moment I mentioned that I wanted to talk to her friend, she turned hostile. She was about to set her dog on me when I fled." Luna shuddered. "I've never seen a dog that could change from a fifteen pound puppy into a hundred and fifty pound wolfhound in a moment."

The Senshi had far too much depending on their princess's return to allow themselves to be thwarted by a girl with a magic guard dog. They began planning out how they could bypass the current obstacle and reach their princess.

* * *

Mamoru Chiba walked the streets of Juuban. The Senshi had agreed that since he had been the closest to the princess back in the Silver Millennium, he would have the best chance of connecting to her upon actually meeting her. He was walking alone; having Luna to conclusively point out the princess to him would also identify him as a friend of Luna to Fate, and since the Senshi didn't know exactly why the other girl was so adamant that the Moon Cat not speak with the princess, it was best that they not draw the other girl's attention.

Unfortunately, this also meant that he couldn't have Luna guide to the princess. All he had to go on to find the princess was a first name, a description, and the building she appeared to be living in. He didn't have the slightest notion of the princess's normal routine, so there was no guarantee that she would be anywhere near she was spotted last time, and if she was new to the area, asking for her wouldn't be of any use.

His wanderings around the area went on for hours. Mamoru decided that if he didn't find anything in the next half hour, he would give up for the day and suggest that the various Senshi try this in turns. He never realized that searching for a person could be so frustrating. He had no clue if the places he was looking in were places the princess had just left, not gotten to yet, or never been to at all. For all he knew, she had decided to spend the entire day indoors reading a book.

Mamoru's frustrated musings were interrupted by the sound of whistling. The song was hauntingly familiar to him, but he couldn't place the tune. It certainly wasn't something that would be played on any of the radio stations that he tended to listen to. But despite that, he knew that the song was very familiar to him. After wracking his memory for the name of the song, he finally realized that he had never heard the song in his life. Prince Endymion's life, however, was a different story.

He had heard this song in his dreams, as he relived events from an era long since past. And unless someone had recomposed the song, the only reason that someone would know that song well enough to whistle it would be if he or she had memories of events from the Silver Millennium – something that only a handful of people could claim. He started casually glancing around, looking for the whistler, and his eyes eventually came to rest upon a brown-haired girl standing outside a shop with a puppy.

* * *

Nanoha had been waiting outside the store with Aruf. They had forgotten that on a non-administrated world that wasn't used to familiars, most stores would not allow creatures they perceived to be pets to enter. That meant that unless Aruf changed into her humanoid form, she would need to wait outside of most stores. And since having Aruf change forms in the middle of the street in broad daylight would draw a great deal of attention, the two mages were taking turns looking in stores and watching the 'pet' for the day. They would have to rethink that plan at the end of the day.

She didn't pay any attention to the man on the other side of the street as she idly whistled. A number of other people had passed on either side of the street, and she hadn't paid any attention to them, either. There were a number of shops on both sides of the street, and those people who weren't simply passing through were looking for something in one shop or another. Had she actively noticed the man look in her direction and cross to her side of the street, she would have assumed that he had decided that the shop that he was looking for was on the other side of the street and crossed.

"Excuse me." A man's voice interjected. Nanoha turned to look at the man who she had casually ignored as just another shopper. Then their eyes met.

Nanoha was certain that she had never seen this man before in her life. Despite this, she was absolutely certain that she knew him somehow – and that seeing him again was one of the most wonderful things that could have happened to her in her life.

As Mamoru's eyes met the girl's, he knew that she was definitely the princess he had been searching for. The princess's eyes widened briefly in surprise, then joy, before assuming a confused look, as if she didn't know why she had been so happy to see him. He felt the same joy in his own heart, only he knew the reason why.

"Have… we met before?" The princess asked.

"Not in any way that you'd remember." He answered. "I'm Mamoru Chiba." He said, holding out his hand.

"Nanoha Takamachi." She replied, taking his hand.

And with that, the first part of Mamoru's mission was complete. Now all he had to do was find a way to tell the princess about her true past and her destiny without the story seeming absolutely ridiculous. As every single one of the Senshi had been inclined to not believe in the Dark Kingdom and the Silver Millennium until their first encounter with a youma, this could be difficult.

He started engaging in simple small talk, hoping to be able to convince the princess to give him some contact information so that he could arrange for her to meet up with the Senshi. His conversation was interrupted when a girl with blonde hair emerged from the shop they were standing outside.

"You should take a look in there, Nanoha," The other girl said, taking the dog's lead from the princess. "There are some things that I think Shinobu might like."

There was no way that a mere man could defeat the female urge to go shopping. The princess said farewell to Mamoru, and left to go look for prospective presents for the mentioned friend/relative. After the princess had entered the building, the other girl, who Mamoru took to be Fate, walked up to him.

"The cat sent you, didn't she?" She whispered in his ear.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied.

"Please. Aruf smelled her all over you. I don't know why you people are so obsessed with Nanoha, and I don't care. The last thing she needs right now is to borrow someone else's troubles. Just leave her alone. Do you understand?" With that, the girl held up her hand, and a ball of lightning crackled on her palm.

One look at Fate's face made it quite clear that she _would_ use her spell on him if she thought it was necessary. He slowly backed away, and left the area. He would have to meet up with the others to come up with a new plan.

* * *

Beryl stormed across her throne room. Her nemesis Serenity was out there somewhere. She was going to find that prince-stealing interloper, and when she did, she was going to _crush_ her. So far, her subjects had failed to locate the girl. But they would. If they didn't, they would feel the full force of her displeasure.

She heard a rumbling in the distance. Turning around, she ordered one of her youma to find out what the source of the disturbance was. Within minutes, it had returned with the answers she sought.

"My Queen," The youma explained. "There is some kind of dimensional disturbance outside the palace. A rift is forming in the sky."

"What!" Beryl exclaimed. A dimensional rift could be very bad. It could mean that her enemies had found her and were attempting to pierce the pocket dimension in which she had hidden herself. She wasn't nearly ready for an all-out battle with the Senshi. She strode out of her throne room, heading towards the rift.

The rift wasn't very large. It was also high enough up that anyone making leaving it in an uncontrolled manner risked serious injury. As Beryl analyzed the rift, her spells detected that something was about to emerge from it. Quickly, she ordered youma in place to seize and secure whatever came out. If the dimensional breach was caused by her enemies, they wouldn't be loose long enough to cause trouble.

The rift spat out a long tube with something clinging to it. After doing so, it started shrinking, the trans-dimensional fabric of reality repairing itself now that the object that was traveling between dimensions uncontrollably was no longer disrupting things. Beryl turned her attention to the object that had been secured.

The tube turned out to be some sort of storage capsule. Sealed inside the capsule was a young girl, perhaps six years of age. Clinging to the capsule desperately was a woman with graying dark hair, battered by her dangerous journey but still determined to keep a hold of the capsule and its precious cargo. The woman raised her head and looked around, as if trying to confirm that her journey had finally ended. Beryl heard her gasp one word before passing out.

"Alicia…"

* * *

A/N: A note on destiny: In Sailor Moon, it is implied that because the Earth Prince and Moon Princess were lovers in their previous lives, they are destined to be lovers again in their current ones. I don't find that plausible. I find the interpretation presented in the Deverry novels by Katherine Kerr to be more likely.

In those stories, two people with a strong connection to each other (positive or negative) in one life will be inclined to similar feelings if they meet in another life, but they aren't bound to it. Reincarnated lovers will be inclined to like each other when they meet, making it easier for them to become lovers again, and reincarnated enemies will be inclined to dislike each other, making it easier for them to find a new reason to fight in the current life, but these are not set in stone. Reincarnated enemies can resolve their differences. Reincarnated lovers can end up parting ways. One's previous lives might influence the person they become, but it doesn't define them absolutely. Nanoha is not Princess Serenity. Mamoru is not Prince Endymion.


	3. The Dark Senshi

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 2

The Dark Senshi

Precia Testarossa opened her eyes slowly and turned her head weakly. She didn't know how long she and Alicia had been falling through the warped space between dimensions. In a way, the answer was useless – given the nature of the rift they had fallen into, they could potentially have been there a day and come out a century before she entered. Time and space had very little meaning in a dimensional breach, especially an uncontrolled one.

Had she succeeded? Had she made it to the lost world of Al-Hazard? Had she succeeded in her decades long quest to find the one place that might have the skills necessary to revive her beloved Alicia? Looking around, she saw that the capsule in which her beloved daughter had been sealed in for nearly twenty years was missing. Where had she gone?

A man walked into the room. He looked down at her with a contemptuous glare.

"So, you're awake." He noted. "Get up."

When Precia didn't obey his command quickly enough, the man gestured, and her body erupted in pain.

"I said, get up." He repeated. Precia painfully climbed to her feet.

"I am General Jadeite, a servant of Queen Beryl. You will address me as sir.

"You have trespassed in my Queen's domain. We could easily kill you for this affront, but the Queen has decided that you might be of use to her. She has noted that you have considerable magical strength. You will be using this to strengthen our forces."

"What makes you think you can dictate terms to me?" Precia snarled angrily, just before collapsing onto the ground as she screamed in pain.

"I can order you around for two reasons. First, because I hold the control spell for the pain collar that Queen Beryl placed around your neck. Second, because you wouldn't want anything to happen to that girl you showed up with, would you?"

"Alicia…" Precia gasped. "What have you done with my daughter?"

"Nothing… yet. But if you persist in defying us, your little girl may pay the price for your foolishness. Am I understood?"

Precia didn't like it. She didn't want to serve these people, but so long as they were holding Alicia hostage, she didn't have any choice. She would have to play along until she enough about these mages to know how to face them using Mid-Childan magic. Once she did, she would get her revenge.

She bowed her head. "Yes, sir."

* * *

The Senshi were rather disappointed with Mamoru's mixed success. Yes, he had managed to make contact with the princess, but the girl known as Fate had ensured that the only thing that he had managed to do during that contact was exchange names. They'd never be able to awaken the princess at this rate.

"How did Fate figure out that you were working with us?" Rei asked.

"She said that her dog smelled Luna on me. Though I'm not sure how the dog told her. She just stepped out of the store and knew what was going on." Mamoru admitted.

"In that case, I think I see a way around this." Ami said. "Luna, you're going to have to move into the Command Center for a while."

"Why?" Luna asked.

The Senshi Command Center, while technically the Senshi's main base, went unused most of the time. This was due to the fact that despite it holding a great deal of useful equipment from the Silver Millennium, Luna and Artemis had made a very poor decision regarding where to build it. Having the base in a hidden sublevel of a popular arcade meant that nobody would notice if a bunch of girls travelled to the building it was located in regularly. Hiding the entrance to the base behind a popular game machine in the arcade proper meant that there was no way to enter or leave it during normal business hours without drawing a great deal of attention to one's self. People tend to notice things like a cat walking up to a video game console, speaking a command in an extremely obscure dead language, and the machine moving aside to reveal a staircase. As a result of this, until such time as they could figure out how to make a less conspicuous hidden entrance, it was only possible to get in there late at night, and anyone still there in the morning would be stuck there all day. Luna didn't really want to be stuck down there by herself for an indefinite period of time if she didn't have to.

"The dog identified Mamoru by Luna's scent. So long as we spend a great deal of time with her, the dog will be able to smell Luna on us. I'm sorry, Luna, but if any of us is to get close to the princess, we'll have to spend as little time with you as possible for the near future."

Luna hated to admit it, but Ami was probably right. Fate would be watching for Mamoru now that she knew that he was associated with Luna. If they were to have any hope of contacting the princess, they would have to conceal that association. Strange as it might seem, the fate of the world could depend on how well the Senshi could purge their clothing and homes of cat hair.

* * *

Night fell upon Tokyo. The lights of the city began to go dark as its people began to go to sleep. But not everyone was sleeping, despite the late hour. Two figures stood on the roof of a hotel. There was a brief flash of light, and then one girl was suddenly wearing a different outfit than she had been a moment before. She swept the other girl into her arms and leapt into the sky.

Fate held Nanoha tightly as she flew upwards. The thing that hit Nanoha the hardest when she was injured was the possibility that she might never recover enough to be able to control a flight spell. So one thing that Fate did for her friend on occasion while she recovered was to return her to the sky she so loved.

As they floated above the clouds, Fate glanced down at her friend. This was the place she truly belonged, and Nanoha would recover to the point that she could return here on her own. Fate would see to that.

Sailor Mercury was standing on a rooftop near the hotel where her princess resided, watching for anything that might provide some inspiration as to how to contact and awaken her. The idea she had come up with of isolating Luna wasn't a solution, it was just removing one potential liability to any plan to awaken the princess: That the dog could tell if anyone had been in close contact with Luna in the recent past. It didn't help to actually locate the princess, as they knew nothing of her habits other than an occasional interest in shopping. The girls had all been spending what time they could spare in the afternoons in the vicinity of the princess's residence for the past week, but none of them had crossed her path since Mamoru's aborted contact.

As she watched and scanned, she saw two figures step onto the roof of the princess's hotel. Setting her visor to zoom in on the location and her computer to record what she saw, she focused her attention there. So she was watching as Fate suddenly changed outfits and carried the princess into the skies bridal-style.

Where was Fate taking the princess? And why? Mercury wanted to know the answers to that, but since she couldn't fly after them, the best she could do was to try to keep track of them with the Mercury Computer's scanner.

An hour later, the two returned, and went back inside. Mercury was no closer to figuring out the point of that excursion then than she had when they had left. She would have to upload the recordings to the computers in the Command Center and see if they could decipher something.

* * *

Minako stepped into the dress shop. Her search for the princess had been a total failure so far, and she needed to get out of the sun. Besides, she could always take a look at some of the outfits they had while she was there. As she looked around, she saw two girls a little older than her looking at some dresses that resembled the description that Luna and Mamoru had provided of the princess and her companion. There was no sign of the dog, but that could just be because they didn't want to bring an animal with them going into shops where a pet wouldn't be welcome. That meant she didn't have to worry about being identified by scent. Minako had been uncertain if smelling of a different Moon Cat would arouse the dog's suspicions.

The girl that looked like her princess was holding two similar dresses, holding one of them in front of her after the other, trying to figure out which one looked better on her. Minako looked at the dresses and decided that neither of them really looked right on the girl. The cut of the dress was fine, it was just the colors just didn't really match her own coloration. Minako went to the dress rack the two girls were standing near and started looking through it. She was soon able to find another version of the dress in a more appropriate color.

"Why don't you try this one?" She suggested, holding out the dress.

The two girls were mildly surprised by a third party entering their discussion, but they accepted the offer of assistance with a smile. The girl who might be the Moon Princess held the dress against her and smiled at the way she looked in the mirror.

"Try it on, Nanoha." The third girl said.

The name was pretty much confirmation of what Minako had suspected. It was highly unlikely that there would be two girls the same age in the same area with the same first name. She had found them.

"Thanks for the help," The princess's companion added, holding out her hand. "I'm Fate."

"Minako." Minako replied, taking her hand.

A few minutes later, the princess emerged in the dress that Minako had picked out. As she twirled in front of them to show off the dress, Fate commented. "It's absolutely perfect. Thanks again, Minako."

The princess nodded in agreement. "You need to find something to wear to the wedding too, Fate." She pointed out.

"Wedding?" Minako asked.

"My brother is getting married soon, and Fate and I don't have anything nice enough to wear to the wedding."

Minako could certainly understand that. What girl wouldn't want to wear a nice new outfit to a wedding? Minako cheerfully offered her services in helping to find the right dress for the princess's friend. As she did, her eyes met the princess's.

* * *

Nanoha glad to have someone offer to help with picking out an outfit for the wedding. She hadn't had much experience in shopping for clothing by herself. Since joining the TSAB full time, most of her wardrobe had consisted of uniforms, and the people at the wedding who didn't know about her job would have been very confused to see her show up in her dress uniform, even if she had thought to pack it, which she hadn't. If Hayate had been here it would have been much easier: She had the best fashion sense of the three Aces.

This Minako girl seemed like a nice person. As their eyes met, something inside her recognized the girl and added told her that this was someone she could trust absolutely.

Nanoha cheerfully accepted the Minako's offer of assistance.

* * *

The moment Minako's eyes met the princess's, the notion that the girl was really the Moon Princess went from strong belief to absolute certainty. Something inside her immediately registered that this was someone she had to protect. It was all she could do to not drop to one knee on the spot.

Resisting the urge to perform an act that would attract far too much attention if she did it in a dress shop, she started looking around for a dress that would suit her princess's companion.

Looking for the right dress for the girl took close to an hour. It would have been less, but for some reason Fate categorically refused to even consider the open-backed gown that was Minako's first choice. Minako wasn't sure why Fate was so uncomfortable about people seeing her back, but she went along with her request.

Minako honestly enjoyed spending the afternoon chatting with the two as she looked for the right dress for Fate. After finally finding the right dress, the three went to a nearby café for snacks. As they entered, Nanoha stared intently at the case of desserts for a moment, and then turned to the cashier.

"Excuse me, but I think someone needs to break up a fight in the kitchen." She said.

The cashier snorted. "If those two don't clean their act up soon, they're going to be fired." Then she went back to try to break up the referenced fight.

Minako turned to Nanoha. "How did you know there was a fight going on?"

Nanoha pointed to the dessert case. "The plates are shaking slightly. That used to happen when two girls who used to work at Midoriya started fighting with each other. I had to break them up every now and then. After awhile all I had to do was poke my head through the door and they'd immediately stop for some reason."

"So even at the tender age of eight, people still knew to fear the White Devil." Fate said teasingly.

Nanoha scowled. "Where did that nickname come from anyway?"

"Vita was the one who coined it. I think she got it from that time when we visited Hayate at the hospital."

"…Oh. I suppose that makes sense."

Minako was _really_ curious as to how a visit to someone at the hospital could result in a girl being justifiably dubbed the 'White Devil', but she was unable to get either of them to explain it.

After they had received their orders, Fate asked Minako what places there were nearby that she and Nanoha could see while they were in the area.

"Let's see," Minako mused. "There's Tokyo Tower, of course. Then there's several museums and some shrines. If you want something simpler, I know of a good arcade that my friends and I go to all the time."

Nanoha appeared to be interested in going to the arcade, so once they finished their snack they took a quick trip to drop off the dresses and then Minako guided the others to the Crown Arcade.

* * *

After Ami got out of her juku, she took a trip to the Crown Arcade. Inside the arcade was a Sailor V arcade machine. Ami was the current top scorer on that machine (Causing Rei and Makoto to be amused at the fact that Sailor Mercury was better at being Sailor V than Sailor V herself was).

Ami walked up to the machine and bent down to the coin slot. As she did so, she flipped open a small compartment next to the coin slot and placed a data chip containing the recording of the previous night's events inside. Closing the compartment, she put some money in the machine and played a game. As Ami played, the data chip was transferred to the Command Center hidden behind the console and its contents uploaded to the computers inside.

Luna watched the playback and was horrified. She saw the girl who had prevented her from reaching the Moon Princess henshin into a different form, and Fate's alternate form was like something out of a nightmare. Boots, gloves, and stockings in black with red trim. A black bodysuit with red trim and a pink miniskirt. The red eyes and ominous black cape didn't improve the image. Luna stared at the girl who was wearing what appeared to be an inversion of a Senshi's fuku and came to the only conclusion that made sense to her.

Fate was some kind of Dark Senshi, who was holding the princess prisoner. The reason the princess acted like she had been injured recently was due to whatever incident had enabled Fate to take the princess captive. Fate wanted to keep the Moon Cats away because she feared that they might be able to release the princess from her control. And given that, there was only one thing that Fate could possibly be after: the Ginzuisho.

Luna started to walk to the communications console to alert the Senshi of her discovery, when it started chiming. One of the Senshi was contacting her. Luna activated the console to see Minako's face.

"What is it, Minako?" She asked.

"I've come into contact with the princess." Minako reported.

"And the other girl didn't interfere?"

"No. The dog wasn't with them, so she just thinks I'm a normal girl. We're all here in the arcade."

"Good work, Minako. I know what to do from here."

This provided an opportunity. If the princess played the Sailor V game, Luna would be able to provide her with the means to communicate without ever coming close to her captor. That would be the easiest way to free her. Luna padded over to the console that watched the arcade floor and waited.

* * *

The floor of an arcade could be a very noisy place, with the sounds of several dozen game machines mixing with the noise of players commenting on the events in the games and observers talking with each other. That evening, the Crown Arcade was strangely quiet. Most of the people there were too busy staring at the girl playing Sailor V with awe.

The Sailor V game was a difficult one. Nobody had ever beaten it. Nobody even knew how many levels there were. Most players couldn't get their score into six digits. The highest score anyone had ever achieved to the knowledge of the arcade's regulars was 153,981, which had been scored by Ami Mizuno. Nanoha's current score was 537,286 and still rising.

The reason for her incredible score was simple. The Sailor V game was secretly a training simulator, there to teach the Senshi how to fight. All of the machines that had been manufactured were a cover so that nobody would notice the one machine placed in a location where the Senshi could use it (The Senshi as a whole wished that they could use the trainer without having to pay for the privilege. Minako also wished that she could get a cut of the enormous amount of money poured into all the Sailor V machines in Japan).

Nanoha already knew how to fight as a magical girl. She had been fighting as a magical girl for years. She was a professional trainer of magical girls. Up until her collapse, she had regularly spent several hours a day in combat simulations, which required maneuvering in three dimensions, mental multitasking, and being able to do advanced mathematical computations and high energy physics in her head. While appearing to be concentrating on a totally unrelated task to any outside observer. Compared to that, a two dimensional simulation where all you need to perform any given action was to press a short button sequence was easy, once she knew what her game avatar's response time was.

The crowd stared as the score climbed higher and higher. People started wondering how close Nanoha could get to seven digits. After she quintupled the previous all-time high score, they started wondering if there was an upper limit to the score counter, and if she was going to hit it. This train of thought continued after Nanoha cleared 900,000.

Nanoha succeeded in reaching 999,999. Her audience erupted in cheers as the game transitioned to a game over screen and asked her to put her name in the high score list. As she entered "AceOfAces" into the machine, three thunks were heard from the prize dispenser on the machine. Nanoha reached into the dispenser and removed a pen, a brooch, and a pocketwatch.

Pocketing her prizes, Nanoha stepped away from the machine, to be greeted by a hail of congratulatory backslaps. Although they weren't very hard, the sheer number of blows to her injured spine caused her to stagger.

* * *

Minako watched Nanoha play Sailor V and felt herself go green with envy. It had taken her close to a year to clear 100,000 points on that trainer, still couldn't get above 120,000, and she _was_ Sailor V. Yet this girl had blown past her best score without any effort on the first time she ever touched the game. But at the same time, this sight filled her with hope. If her princess was that naturally talented, then once she awakened her help would easily enable the Senshi to turn the tide against the Dark Kingdom and end the war once and for all. Then Nanoha beat the game. Minako hadn't even known that was possible. It was at that moment that Minako knew in her heart that the Senshi could actually win the war.

Then she saw Nanoha fall after receiving numerous congratulatory backslaps. As Minako pushed her way through the crowd to try to reach the princess, she saw Fate doing the same, concern clearly written on her face.

"What's wrong?" Minako asked.

"Nanoha injured her back recently. She still hasn't fully recovered." Fate answered as they helped the girl to her feet.

Minako cringed as the two helped Nanoha walk to the door. That wasn't good news. "I'm sorry this happened."

Nanoha smiled. "This isn't your fault, Minako. It was nice to meet you."

"Same here."

As they made it outside, Fate called for a taxi, and then she and Nanoha got in for a trip back to their hotel. Afterwards, Minako started heading home herself. Her family would be wondering where she was if she wasn't seen at home for at least some of the evening.

* * *

Fate sat as she watched Nanoha sleep. Her friend had needed to lie down after what had happened at the arcade, and had dozed off shortly afterwards. A few minutes later, Fate heard a chirping noise. Fate frowned in annoyance. She didn't want anything to wake Nanoha up. Realizing that the noise was coming one of the shopping bags, she fished through it to find that the watch that Nanoha had won from the arcade machine was making it. Thinking that the watch had an alarm function that was going off, Fate walked to the next room to figure out how to disable it. What she found when she opened the watch wasn't something she was expecting.

"You!" Luna cried out from the video screen on the inside of the watch cover.

"This is getting ridiculous." Fate commented wearily. "Why do you insist on harassing us?"

"You know exactly why, you witch!"

"There's no need to be insulting, cat. If you know who Nanoha is, you should also know exactly why she can't help you right now. If you'd just calm down and explain what the situation is, I can try to get someone to help you."

"You won't get away with this! We will free her from your clutches!" With that the image of the cat disappeared.

Fate blinked. It seemed that in addition to being persistent, the mage that was after Nanoha was also mentally disturbed. She was also quite resourceful. Fate wasn't sure how the other mage managed to plant that communication device into the game machine and ensure that Nanoha received it. Other people at the arcade had commented that the machine dispensed prizes regularly, but dispensing a specific item to a specific person was an unlikely coincidence. But if one of the items was from the cat, the others might be as well. Fate located the other two items from the arcade and had Bardiche seal them. That would keep Nanoha from keeping a hold of them in case one of them had also been planted by the insane feline. She would turn them over to the research labs when she returned to Kranagan. If they turned out to be harmless or were disabled, then she could return them to Nanoha. As she closed her suitcase, she heard Nanoha stir.

"Is someone else here, Fate? I thought I heard something." She asked.

"You must have heard the television, Nanoha." Fate lied. "Why don't we call for room service? It's about time for dinner."

* * *

Precia entered the room. Finding where her captors had stored Alicia's stasis capsule wasn't hard. They didn't see any real reason to hide it. The stasis capsule was taller than Precia was, and as a result they didn't think she could pick it up and take it with her anywhere, at least not without drawing a great deal of attention to herself. And since Alicia would die within seconds if she left the stasis capsule before some method of reviving her was found, Precia didn't dare take Alicia without taking the capsule.

Her captors had been making her build weapons for them. Her skill in creating robots interested them, although they insisted that all of them possess the ability to use a spell from their own school of magic, rather than her own. A spell whose implications Precia considered absolutely fascinating. The concept of stealing life from a person and bestowing it on others could be the breakthrough she needed to save her daughter. And so she had managed to steal a small fragment of her captor's supply of stolen life energy for this experiment. If it worked, she could start working out how to acquire enough of it to fully restore her daughter after all these years.

Precia approached the capsule holding her dying child, the ball of energy in her hand. She carefully began a spell to transfer energy, and started slowly siphoning the stolen energy into her daughter's motionless form. Once she finished, she pressed her face against the capsule, desperately looking for the slightest evidence that Alicia's condition had improved. She waited, hoping that this had been the cure she had been searching for for so long.

And then, for just one moment, the fingers in Alicia's left hand started to twitch.

* * *

Omake: Jealous Device (Inspired by DCG and Belgarion213)

Nanoha succeeded in reaching 999,999. Her audience erupted in cheers as the game transitioned to a game over screen and asked her to put her name in the high score list. As she entered "AceOfAces" into the machine, three thunks were heard from the prize dispenser on the machine. Nanoha reached into the dispenser and removed a pen, a brooch, and a pocketwatch.

As Nanoha started to pocket her prizes, a woman's voice called out.

"Hands Off My Master."

Everyone looked around for the source of the voice, and was surprised when Nanoha pulled a red bead on a cord from under her shirt.

"Raising Heart, what are you doing?" She asked.

"This Is My Master. Get Your Own." The gem announced. Then the gem started to glow. A moment later, there was a flash of light, and the brooch exploded.

"Explain yourself, Raising Heart!"

"I Am Your Device, Master. You Do Not Need Another."

Underneath the arcade, Luna noted that the Dark Senshi had an additional mechanism in place to control the princess. That necklace would have to be removed before the princess could truly awaken.

* * *

A/N: While most of the Nanoha events I have referenced come from the anime, the manga, or the Triangle Hearts OVA, one event mentioned here comes from a distinctly non-canon source: Fate taking Nanoha for flights during her recover came from a scene in Santa Sangre, a beautifully done (non-hentai) doujin trilogy about Nanoha's collapse and recovery.

Many readers may not remember the age of gaming where most games didn't have an actual ending. In those games, the only way to 'win' was to max out the score counter (Assuming the game didn't start malfunctioning at this point). Depending on the game in question, this can take a very long time. I'm assuming this could be done with Sailor V in an hour or two of continuous playing.

This story is now on the TvTropes recommended list for Nanoha fanfiction! Thank you for the recommendation, Comartemis.


	4. How Not To Make A First Impression

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 3

How Not To Make a First Impression

The floor of the Crown Arcade was empty. After double-checking that her exit would not be seen, Luna activated the control that would make the Sailor V machine move away from the hidden staircase, allowing her to leave. She had been stuck in the command center for an entire week, and she was sick of it. She wanted fresh air, fresh food, and humans willing to stroke her fur. She also needed to tell the Senshi about what had happened to the princess, and since she didn't know how to set up the teleconference mode on the communicators, she needed to speak to them in person to brief them all at once.

Luna snuck out of the arcade and headed to the residence of her 'owner', Mamoru Chiba. Her enemy already knew of the connection between them, so no further harm could be done to her plans by associating with him. It didn't take long for Luna to make her way back to her home. Fortunately, Mamoru always kept a window open for his 'pet'.

Mamoru was quick to notice that Luna had returned.

"I wasn't expecting you to turn up, Luna. Has something happened?" He asked.

Luna nodded. "That girl who kept us from contacting the princess is more than she seems. I fear that she has her own sinister designs on the princess."

Luna then began explaining her conclusions in more detail.

* * *

Mamoru was outraged by what Luna had discovered. His princess was being held as a brainwashed prisoner of a Dark Senshi? The Dark Senshi was seeking to block all attempts from the true Senshi to contact the princess so that she wouldn't awaken and break free? This was something that he could not allow to stand.

Mamoru didn't know much about his own past. He had blocked out most of his memories after the accident that killed the rest of his family. The slowly awakening memories of his previous life were more concrete than his memories of his current one. There were times that Endymion actually seemed more real to him than Mamoru Chiba did. As a result of this, he had come to the conclusion that if he managed to fully awaken his past self, he would be able to discover who he was in his current life. And the key to doing this lay with the person who Endymion had centered his life around: Princess Serenity.

He could still recall all of the times that Serenity had snuck down to the Earth, first to spend time on a real world rather than a magically sustained artificial habitat, and later just to see him. He remembered dancing with her the night they were to be officially betrothed. And he could remember her screams of grief as he died in her arms when her birthday celebration turned into a catastrophe.

Mamoru would not permit his beloved princess to face the tragedies of her previous life in this one. He would free her from the clutches of this Dark Senshi, and thwart Beryl's plan to keep them apart. Then they could be together again.

Luna was planning to inform the Senshi of what she had learned at their next meeting. That would be in two day's time. Mamoru had no intention of waiting that long. He would begin hunting his enemy tomorrow.

* * *

The sun rose upon Tokyo. People across the city began to rise from their beds and begin their days. Nanoha wasn't among them. Despite her long-ingrained habit of waking at dawn or earlier, she was staying in bed. Her back hurt too much.

She wasn't sure why beating such an easy game had merited such a riotous response from everyone else in the arcade (The only real difficulty she had was that the machine, like virtually all arcade machines, wasn't designed to be used by someone who was left handed). Or why the second highest scorer hadn't even managed to get a sixth of her score. But the enthusiastic congratulations of the observers had been rather painful for her.

If only she had taken the time to study some healing magic. Then she could have done something about her aching back. But then again, she was also forbidden from using magic any more than absolutely necessary for the time being, so she couldn't have healed her back even if she knew such a spell. And unfortunately, Fate didn't know any spells for healing people, either.

The blankets shifted as Fate got out of the bed. Nanoha groaned and turned over.

"Good morning, Nanoha." Fate said.

"Morning." Nanoha grunted.

"Are you okay?"

"Don't want to get up. Back hurts."

"Alright, just lay back. I'll go get breakfast." With that, Fate left.

By the time breakfast was over, Nanoha had decided that she wasn't up to walking around the city that day. So Fate and Aruf headed out to see the sights while Nanoha remained behind to rest.

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen stalked the streets of Azabu Juuban, searching for the Dark Senshi. With Luna travelling with him, he could track his enemy down directly, rather than just hoping he crossed her path at some random point. It wasn't long before Luna found the trail he was looking for.

He was in luck: his enemy wasn't travelling with the princess. There was no risk that the Dark Senshi would try to harm the princess rather than allow her to go free. Here was the perfect opportunity to eliminate his beloved's captor. He produced a rose and carefully took aim. Tomorrow he would be reunited with his dearest Serenity once again.

* * *

The night streets were deserted, but something had put Fate on edge. She fingered Bardiche nervously. She wasn't sure what was setting her off, but years of work as a TSAB enforcer had left her able to tell when trouble was coming. The flicker of something coming towards her quickly in the corner of her eye confirmed that instinct.

Fate activated her barrier jacket and brought up a shield. The incoming object pierced through the shield, only to stick into her cape. She glanced briefly at the projectile. A rose? Strange choice of weapon. Still, it had been able to penetrate a hastily cast shield spell, so there was some power behind it. If she had taken the hit entirely on her jacket rather than her shield, it could have hurt.

A man jumped down from the rooftops at her, swinging something as he dropped. Fate raised Bardiche's axe form to parry. The man, dressed in formal evening wear for some bizarre reason, kept trying to press the attack, swinging wildly with his cane. It wasn't much of a contest. Fate's attacker clearly wasn't very focused, rendering any actual skill he had meaningless. Even if he had been thinking clearly, he was hardly in the same league as Signum, who Fate had sparred with periodically for years. Within twenty seconds, Fate had knocked the cane out of the man's hands and then reversed her swing to club the man in the head with Bardiche's blunt side.

The man dropped to the ground, dazed and unable to rise. As he fell, Fate saw Aruf return with a rather familiar cat clamped in her jaws. Fate looked down on the captive animal.

"Before, you were just an annoyance. But this is a bit much. Attacking an officer of the Bureau is a serious offense. But since I'm not on duty, I'm feeling generous. I'm willing to give you three choices. First, you can go home and leave Nanoha and me alone to finish our vacation in peace. Second, you can try to provide a coherent explanation for your actions, after which I will pass your story on to my superiors if you can convince me that the situation warrants TSAB intervention. Third, you can try to bother me again, after which I will allow Aruf to use you as her personal chew toy. Which is it going to be?"

The cat whimpered painfully, clearly not seeing what the difference between being Aruf's chew toy and what was going on at that very moment. Aruf spat the cat out. The bedraggled, slobber drenched feline gasped for breath, then looked up at her nemesis.

"You won't get away with this. We will free the princess from your clutches." The cat snarled.

Fate scratched her head. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know any royalty."

"Don't play dumb with me! You've been blocking us from contacting the princess this entire time!"

Realization came to Fate. She sighed. "What could have confused you to the point that you'd mistake the daughter of a restaurateur for the daughter of a monarch? I've never seen a familiar act so peculiar before in my life. If you want, I can try to get some help for you. Once you've been healed properly I'm sure you'll be able to remember who your real master is."

The cat's eyes widened with horror at Fate's offer and it started backing away, hissing in anger. Fate took that reaction as the rejection it was and continued.

"You people are clearly too disturbed to be allowed to keep running around. I'm going to have to take you in. If you submit quietly, you will be permitted to testify in your own defense." The real problem was what Fate was going to do with these people. Since this was an unadministered planet, there wasn't a base or patrol ship nearby that she could drop them off on, and she didn't have any place that would serve as a holding cell. Fate supposed she could keep them chained up in a basement somewhere until a patrol ship could pick them up, but that would still require her or Aruf guarding them until said ship arrived, which could take days. Which Nanoha would notice. Which would negate the original purpose of this exercise – to keep Nanoha's recovery from being disturbed.

Fate's musings on how to contain her prisoners caused her attention to slip from the one who had appeared to been disabled. The man in the tuxedo had roused somewhat, and had managed to get a hold of another rose. Fate saw the motion and started to turn towards her attacker. The rose missed her, but caught the collar of her cloak, going through it and continuing into the brick wall behind her. The cat took advantage of the distraction to flee, Aruf on her heels.

Fate tried to move forward to secure the man, but found that the rose had effectively nailed her to the wall. Not wanting to get within range of Bardiche again, the man turned and staggered away, leaving Fate to pull herself free of the surprisingly strong piece of foliage. As Aruf returned, reporting that the cat had slipped away by going into a crevice that the larger animal couldn't pass through, Fate resolved that she would try to convince Nanoha to change vacation venues after the wedding. And to send a report in so that an enforcer team could contain that cat before she developed an unhealthy fixation on someone who couldn't defend herself.

* * *

Luna seethed as she found her way back to Tuxedo Kamen's side, trying to shake off the dog slobber all over her coat as she did so.. How _dare_ that girl shrug her off as a broken construct? Her, who had once been one of Queen Serenity's personal advisors? She didn't know what this TSAB was, but they would learn that the Moon Kingdom was more than the childish fantasy their agent so glibly shrugged them off as. And to so glibly offer to 'fix' her so that she would stop 'mistaking' the princess for her 'real master'. Luna was certain that the 'doctor' that the witch planned to call in would just brainwash her into another servant.

The Dark Senshi may have been able to defeat the Earth Prince, but she had yet to face the power of the true Sailor Senshi. They would be gathering for a meeting tomorrow, and Luna would see to it that the Senshi hunted down and destroyed this villainess. But first, Luna had to get the prince home. While he probably didn't have a concussion, it was clear that he wasn't in good shape after that axe blow.

Luna's efforts to guide Tuxedo Kamen were interrupted by the distinctive sound of a communicator going off. The prince fumbled for the communicator, dropping it as it left his pocket. Luna walked up to the communicator and pawed it open.

"Luna?" Mercury's voice came over the communicator. "Where's Tuxedo Kamen? The Dark Kingdom's come up with something new. We need all the extra firepower we can get."

Luna winced. She had been so eager to free the Moon Princess that she had gone along with Endymion's plan to face the Dark Senshi alone without considering the possibility that he might fail. And because of that oversight, the Senshi were now in danger. She wouldn't make that mistake again. Next time, she would bring overwhelming force.

Luna looked towards Endymion and saw him clutching his head in pain. "I'm sorry," Luna admitted. "But Kamen's out of action for the time being. I'm afraid you're on your own."

* * *

Sailor Mercury cringed at Luna's words. How had it come to this? All she had wanted in life was to get through school, get admitted to a good college, go on to medical school, and become a doctor like her mother. Then she had gotten a funny pen as a prize from an arcade game, the faculty from her juku had been replaced by monsters, and she found herself spending her spare time fighting creatures that had wiped out all civilization on Earth thousands of years in the past and apparently wanted to do it again. This wasn't the life she wanted. And if she couldn't figure out how to deal with the floating, legless, suit of armor, it would soon be over.

Her ice couldn't damage it. Neither did Mars' flames or Jupiter's lightning. Venus's beams were doing damage, but most of the power went into piercing the armor. Since they didn't know where the thing was vulnerable, the minimal penetration wasn't doing enough harm to matter. She had hoped that Tuxedo Kamen had some ability that would significantly hurt the thing, but he wasn't available.

A crackling sound was the only warning Mercury had before the enemy launched a ball of energy at her. She dove to the ground, just barely avoiding the attack. If her hair had been as long as her colleagues', the near miss would have caused most of it to burn off. As it was, she felt a painful tingling down her back as it passed over her and smashed into a wall.

Noticing that the near miss had rendered her unable to move quickly, the floating armor moved in closer, raising its blade to finish her off. Mercury desperately fired a blast of ice at her opponent, freezing its shoulder. The ice locked up the joint for a few precious seconds before shattering under the force placed upon it, giving Jupiter the chance to pull Mercury to safety.

So the armor's joints could be iced over. That was something she could use. If only it had legs to take out, that would be more useful. It would also help if she knew what was keeping the thing up in the air.

The Mercury Computer chimed, announcing that it had finished its scan of the armor. Disappointingly, it didn't include any data about what was in the armor or making it move. It was just an analysis of the armor itself, the alloy it was made of and its various chemical properties. Mercury glanced at the data, not expecting it to be all that useful, and then smiled as she saw how low the thermal conductivity of the metal was. She knew how to take the thing down.

"Mars! Hit the armor exactly where I do!" She called out. Then she launched a freezing blast at the center of the armor. A burst of flame hit the same point just afterwards, thawing and softening the frozen piece of metal. A second freeze caused the metal around the section to start cracking as the armor started suffering from thermal shock.

"Venus! Now!" Mercury yelled. A blast of energy struck the cracking metal, making it shatter. Mercury quickly saw the reason why they hadn't been able to hurt the youma wearing the armor up to this point. There hadn't been one. Nobody had been wearing the armor. The armor was some kind of robot, either completely autonomous or controlled by someone far away. A bolt of lightning from Jupiter crackled into the exposed machinery, shorting out the robot and making it crash lifelessly to the ground.

The four Senshi looked at their fallen opponent and gasped for breath. Something had changed with their old enemy, and if it hadn't been for a design flaw, their latest creation might have beaten them. They needed something to change the equation in their favor, and soon. They needed the princess.

* * *

None of the Senshi had a social life active enough to justify acquiring traditional skills with makeup, but they had all been forced to learn the art over the past year nonetheless. It had been necessary in order to conceal visual evidence of evening spent out fighting monsters. Even those who could spend the entire day without seeing a relative still had to spend most of their typical day outside of the comfort of their home, so the burns, bruises, cuts and scrapes from battles would be noticed. Every single one of them had been using that skill on this day.

The most visibly injured was Mamoru, whose flaking makeup exposed an enormous bruise that made him look like somebody had clubbed him with the blunt side of an axe. Makoto actually commented on that, only to learn that he really _had_ been clubbed with the blunt side of an axe.

"We can't go on like this." Rei groused. "That robot the Dark Kingdom sent last time was a lot tougher than the youma we normally face. If they had sent more than one, or if all four of us hadn't been there, we would have lost."

"We need something to strengthen our side, or we need to slow Beryl's forces down. I don't think we could take them if another one of those robots shows up tonight." Makoto agreed.

"And I doubt either of those will happen without us awakening the princess." Rei concluded. "What did you learn from your meeting with her, Aino-san?"

"Let's see. The most likely reason you couldn't sense her in a reading is that she managed to get a full-time job right out of junior high and has been out of the area at that job ever since." Minako started. "She's only in the area now because she's taking a vacation due to her older brother getting married soon. That could be a problem for us – once the wedding is over, she could very well end up going back to her job, ending up far out of our reach."

The Senshi shared worried glances at that. While none of them could think of a job that could be gotten without even a high school diploma that they'd want to accept, the implications of their princess abandoning her destiny to return to some low-paying menial job on the other side of the country weren't good.

"On a more positive note, if we can awaken her, she could very well help us turn the tide. She tried out the Sailor V game and beat Mizuno-san's score on her first try." She continued.

"How high did she score?" Makoto asked.

"One million points."

"Is it possible to get a score that high?" Ami wondered.

"No. The game surrendered at 999,999. I recall Artemis saying that the game couldn't be beaten; it would just create more levels the further you go."

"That's right." Artemis confirmed. "The only way to beat the game is to max out the score counter. I didn't think anyone would even get close to actually doing that."

"However, if the princess does awaken soon, there will be one problem if she tries fighting alongside us. She apparently hurt her back recently, and still hasn't recovered." Minako continued.

"And I think I know who's to blame for that." Luna announced. All heads turned to face the moon cat (who was stuck in a pet carrier to keep her shed hair from getting over the others).

"Who would that be?" Makoto demanded, flexing her fists.

"The princess's 'friend' is anything but. She's been actively interfering with every attempt we've made to contact the princess. I arranged for the princess to receive a communicator as a prize from the Sailor V game, and her 'friend' confiscated it almost immediately. After I made one call and discovered that the princess no longer had the communicator, that communicator went completely off the net. Along with the information that Ami was able to gather while staking out the hotel where the princess is staying, I can only come to one conclusion: That this Fate person is a Dark Senshi, who is holding our princess as a brainwashed prisoner."

Rei and Makoto looked enraged at that statement, a sentiment shared by Mamoru. Minako, Ami, and Artemis looked more dubious.

"Don't you think there could be an alternative explanation?" Artemis asked.

"Like what?"

"Like maybe she just doesn't want her friend getting into trouble while she's still recovering from a recent back injury?"

"She threatened to feed me to her dog!"

"You have been following her around for some time. I could see why she wouldn't like that." Ami pointed out.

The argument continued. Luna refused to consider the possibility that she might be wrong, and despite Ami, Minako and Artemis poking holes in Luna's arguments, Rei, Makoto and Mamoru all decided they agreed with Luna. It was ultimately a symptom of a far larger problem.

None of the five humans involved in protecting Tokyo from the youma had enlisted voluntarily. They had all been forced into the role as the result of being stuck in the middle of a youma attack and being fortunate enough to acquire the means to defend themselves. The five of them had all come from different walks of life, and had very little in common besides a non-paying career that none of them had wanted to go into and which they all wanted to be able to give up with a clear conscience. Once that happened, it was quite likely that they'd all go their separate ways and never deliberately cross each other's paths again.

Given that, it was understandable that Rei and Makoto would want there to be a simple answer to the current difficulty they were facing in their unwanted profession. Just remove the princess's captor, and the princess would awaken. With the princess awakened, they could take the offensive against Beryl. Once that was done, they could end the war and spend their nights sleeping instead of running around the rooftops in skimpy fukus.

Despite the tempting urge to take an easy answer and hope it would solve their problems, Minako didn't accept Luna's theory. She had spent an afternoon with Nanoha and Fate. If Fate had been manipulating Nanoha's memories to make her think she was an old friend, she had gone through a lot of effort. It was hard to believe someone would invent a fake memory as inherently absurd as losing a volleyball match by knockout. In addition to the apparent level of detail in those allegedly fake memories, Minako had also seen the look on Fate's face when Nanoha collapsed. She couldn't believe that Fate would deliberately seek to harm Nanoha, even if she had some ulterior motive behind associating with the girl. Ami agreed on that point, having examined the footage of Fate's evening flight and noting the loving expression that Fate used when gazing upon the princess. While she might not be doing what was ultimately in the princess's best interests, it seemed likely to Ami and Minako that Fate was doing what she personally _believed_ to be in the princess's best interests.

Hopefully, the other two Senshi wouldn't do anything too reckless before they could figure out a way to get Fate to understand that the princess had to fulfill her destiny.

* * *

After a few days of rest, Nanoha's back had recovered enough to allow her to go out again. Considering how close it was getting to the date of Kyouya's wedding, the timing was rather fortunate. So she and Fate were taking Aruf on an evening walk. Things were going fine until Aruf froze and started growling.

Nanoha looked around and saw a cat peeking out of an alley. For any other dog, that might have been a reasonable explanation for that reaction, but Nanoha knew Aruf. She had spent a considerable amount of time around Suzuka's numerous cats without ever having any problems with them, so why would she react like that on seeing a cat now?

Then Aruf pulled her leash out of Fate's grasp and chased after the cat.. That wasn't something Aruf would normally do. Nanoha wondered what was going on, but reassured herself that Aruf would return. Then she heard Aruf howl in pain. Something was definitely wrong. Fate ran to see what was going on. A moment later, Nanoha heard a crack of lightning come from the alley. Nanoha knew there was trouble. She maneuvered herself to a position where she could look into the alley.

* * *

Luna had been waiting for the Dark Senshi's pet to come by. The dog had reacted to her presence just as she had anticipated. As the dog came after her, Luna darted into the alley and hid behind some trash cans. Now it was time to spring the trap.

The dog followed into the alley. Sailor Mars stepped out of the shadows at the far end of the alley. The dog started sniffing for its enemy, not realizing that there was another enemy waiting for it. Luna grinned triumphantly as a wave of heat passed her hiding place and the dog howled in pain from being struck with a fireball. It served the mutt right for using _her_ as a chew-toy.

The Dark Senshi came into the alley after her pet. Seeing the dog wounded and the apparent perpetrator at hand, she prepared to fight. This was when Sailor Jupiter dropped from the rooftop behind the princess's jailor. The plan had worked. The witch was now trapped in a narrow alley between two Senshi.

Attacked from two directions, the Dark Senshi called up a shield in each hand to block the incoming spells. The shields held, but they were noticeably damaged from the blows. Oh well. It didn't matter if the Senshi couldn't breach her defenses on the first shot. Their enemy was trapped, so they could always keep firing until the shields broke down.

That was when Luna's plan broke down. A burst of pink light flashed in the alley, and Jupiter's lightning stopped coming. Luna peeked out from her hiding place to see what happened, and gaped at what she saw. Jupiter was down, not seriously harmed, but knocked down and just as surprised as Luna at who had done it.

Standing above Jupiter's fallen form was the Moon Princess, who was now looking angrily at Mars. The princess pulled something out of her shirt with her left hand and started to speak.

"I am the one who has been given a mission." She recited.

Luna gulped. While she didn't know what the princess was saying, it sounded like some kind of spell. Mars also started backing away, realizing that who it was that was standing against her.

"Under the contract, release these powers." She continued.

Why was the princess seeking to harm her Senshi? Why was she siding with her captor?

"Winds to the sky, stars…" The princess fumbled, apparently forgetting the next part of the incantation. Before anyone else could react, the Dark Senshi darted towards the princess, grabbed her, and flew up to the rooftop. The dog then transformed, turning into a woman with canine ears and tail, who ran towards Mars, and proceeded to punch the girl who had tried to set her on fire out. Then she flew off after her master.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Sailor Venus said. "Two members of the Sailor Senshi, champions of love and justice, just attempted a backstreet mugging."

Two Senshi and one moon cat looked down rather shamefully at that description of their attempt to free their princess.

"And that's not even the worst of what you did with your little scheme. You could potentially have cost us any hope of awakening the princess." Venus continued.

"What?" Luna exclaimed. "We were just trying to free her from that witch!"

"What you intended doesn't matter. You forgot that even if your theory that all of the princess's memories about this Dark Senshi being manufactured is true, _she doesn't know that_. What Nanoha saw was two people she'd never seen before in her life attacking one of her oldest friends. You could very well have convinced her that the Senshi are her enemies."

A look of horror spread across three faces as they realized exactly how much they had screwed up.

* * *

While Venus was dressing down her colleagues for their poorly thought out display of excess initiative, Fate was explaining to Nanoha exactly what had been going on behind her back over the past few weeks. Nanoha was rather upset that Fate had been hiding things from her, but was forced to concede that Fate's reasoning was sensible – mainly because of how much casting a Divine Shooter powerful enough to knock the girl in the green skirt took out of her.

"Did they ever explain what they wanted?" Nanoha asked.

"Not in any coherent matter. I strongly suspect that the familiar those people were taking orders from wasn't quite right in the head. I think we're going to need to spend the rest of our vacation somewhere else if we're going to get any peace."

"Hmm… How about Kyoto? I've never been there."

"That sounds good. Hopefully those people won't try to follow us there."

"We should probably send a report to the Bureau about them. They're probably going to try to cause more trouble later on."

"You're right. I'll write something up in the next few days. Given that your brother's wedding is tomorrow, I don't think I'll be able to finish it before then."

Nanoha smiled. "At least we aren't likely to have any trouble show up at a wedding."

* * *

Omake by Elvarein:

"Bu-bu-but! She's our Princess of the Moon!" Venus gasped out, trembling, staring at the glowing yellow blade resting at her neck that had just bisected a pillar. _Oh my god. Oh my god I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I'm too pretty to die!_

Fate slowly lifted her head, her hair falling away slightly from her face to reveal a face twisted into a horrendous snarl and eyes that seemed to glow. Glow, with the fury of a thousand suns, with the promise of complete destruction. The searing blade seemed to inch closer, if it were possible. She opened her jaws and...

There was a high pitch, half strangled whine and a sudden venting of yellow liquid with the accompanying stench. The girl's body relaxed and she fell into blissful oblivion.

Nanoha blinked and tilted her head slightly to stare quizzically at Fate who looked back with her normal serene expression. "I'm not that scary am I?"

She smiled back and laughed, her voice tinkling gently. "Never, Nanoha. How could you be, and besides, isn't that funny calling you the princess in the moon? Wouldn't you be a rabbit then, like the story your mother told us?"

Nanoha giggled softly and turned to face the other Senshi who are still stared at Fate, who was slightly behind Nanoha, abject fear in their eyes. "Now, could you please try again, this time with the truth?"

They shuddered and started babbling their guts out, as they completely stopped struggling in their bonds. Just as a tiny animal keeps completely still, praying that the predators are ignoring it. Behind Nanoha, Fate seemed to have acquired a glowing, burning aura from somewhere and the Senshi could swear that there was ominous music coming from nowhere.

* * *

A/N: Aruf isn't badly injured. Familiars can take a good deal of damage.

The reason the Senshi were having trouble with the drone is because their attacks are meant to burn, freeze, and shock. Against something that doesn't feel pain, those aren't the attacks to use. They needed spells to pierce, cut, and smash.

Thermal shock, which is caused by rapid temperature change, is a real phenomenon. For an easy real-life example, drop an ice cube in a glass of hot water, and watch the ice crack while it melts.


	5. You May Now Befriend The Wedding Crasher

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 4

You May Now Befriend the Wedding Crasher

"This isn't looking good." Venus said. She had just finished relating the reckless and potentially catastrophic stunt her fellow Senshi had pulled to Mercury.

"I wish I could disagree with you." Mercury replied. "At this rate, the princess is likely to reject any Senshi envoy we send to her, and if she's really planning to leave the area after her brother's wedding like you suspect, then we're running out of time."

"We need to speak with the princess soon, if we're going to have any chance of awakening her at all." Artemis concurred.

"But how are we supposed to get to her if the other girl keeps interfering?" Ami questioned.

"That's because Luna probably forgot that her former rank no longer really applies." Artemis pointed out. The girls looked at him.

"Luna and I used to be Queen Serenity's closest advisors. Because of that, if we called up someone in the court and asked for a meeting, the people we called would make time for that meeting, no matter what their schedules were like. We didn't need to state why we wanted a meeting, because as representatives of the throne, our business was considered more important than day-to-day business.

"But nowadays, most people don't remember that the Moon Kingdom ever existed, much less who were the key officials of it were. Luna probably demanded an audience with the princess, forgetting that in the eyes of the person she was talking to, she wasn't the chief advisor of a queen, she was just a total stranger who never gave an explanation for why she wanted to speak with the princess."

"So we could have avoided this entire mess if Luna had just bothered to say _why_ she needed to talk with Nanoha?" Venus groaned.

"Probably." Both girls facepalmed.

"Do you think we might be able to get them to listen if we try to explain what's going on?"

"We can only hope. If that doesn't work, I don't know how we'll be able to get the princess to help. Let's see… The communicator that Luna arranged for the princess to receive has been either destroyed or disabled, so we can't try that. Venus, did the princess or her companion ever give you any contact information?"

"No," Venus admitted. "I suppose I could turn up at the hotel they're staying at, but we don't know what room, and even if we did know, they'd just be suspicious if I turned up when they didn't tell me where they live."

The three paused in thought. Then Artemis picked his head up.

"I'll go. The dog might smell me and seek me out. When it does, I'll surrender and offer to explain everything. By now they must really want to know why Luna's been bothering them, so they should be willing to let me talk."

"But are you sure they'll take the bait fast enough?" Mercury pointed out. "Luna just used herself as bait in an ambush earlier tonight. They might decide it's another trap. We don't have much time left, so they might deliberately avoid you until it's too late."

"Mercury's right." Venus agreed. "We need to know how much time we have left before the wedding.

"I know. Most of Nanoha's family works at a family-owned café. If we can find where that is, we might be able to learn of the date of the wedding. The owner's son getting married would be important gossip for the people working there."

"That's a possibility." Mercury said, taking out her computer. "What's the name of this café?"

"The Midori-ya."

"Hmm… According to the computer, there isn't a café called Midori-ya in Tokyo. There is a café by that name owned by a man named Shiro Takamachi, but it's in Uminari."

"What? She takes her first vacation in years due to a family wedding, and gets a hotel in a totally different city? That's strange."

"I know. Still, it would explain why we couldn't always find her here in Juuban. She might have taken an occasional day trip to see her parents."

"It's possible. Okay, we don't have school tomorrow, so I'll catch a train down to Unimari and see if I can figure out what our timetable is. Artemis, you be ready to try your plan in the meantime."

With that, the impromptu meeting broke up.

* * *

Beryl was displeased. The weapon that her new slave had created turned out to be capable of seizing energy in significant amounts. But the never to be sufficiently accursed Senshi had destroyed it before it could transfer the energy to the Dark Kingdom.

Still, she had the plans to make more of this and other models of that weapon, and she had faithful youma servants creating more of them for her to use. In addition, she had her slave designing still more versions that she could create later. She would destroy the Senshi and their precious Moon Princess… It was only a matter of time.

A figure entered the throne room. General Nephrite strode across the long hallway, dropping to one knee as he reached the throne.

"My Queen." He said.

"Why have you come before me, Nephrite?" She demanded.

"I have accomplished the task you have set me, Your Majesty." He announced, holding a folded sheet of paper up.

Beryl smiled as she took the paper. "You have done well, my General. You may go." Nephrite rose, bowed, and backed out of the throne room.

When she had first learned of the princess's appearance, she had tasked Nephrite to use his powers of divination to learn of a time and place when her nemesis would be vulnerable. It had taken him weeks. Nephrite had claimed that his inability to find the answer faster was due to the specificity of the task and the lack of detail on the target. He could be faster when seeking a moment when a person's life energy would peak because he was seeking _any_ person in a region whose life energy was likely to peak in the near future. Divining the future of a specific individual with only minimal information about that person was apparently a harder task. Beryl wasn't sure she believed his excuses. Had he taken much longer, she would have punished him for failing her. But now she had what she wanted.

Unfolding the paper, Beryl read the report.

_According to the signs I have been able to determine, your enemy stands a great risk of coming to harm should adverse forces intervene in her life at a certain location tomorrow afternoon…_

* * *

Precia closed her eyes in thought. Her imprisonment hadn't been particularly harsh, so long as she remembered to grovel sufficiently to her 'masters' when they deigned to grace her with their presence. Apart from when she provided them with the plans for her drones, and the infrequent times that they chose to come to her, she was ignored completely. This allowed her time to plan for an escape.

She had figured out where this 'Dark Kingdom' was. She was apparently close enough to the non-administered world that she had sent her failed creation Fate to hunt Jewel Seeds on that she could transport herself and Alicia there without trouble. Her captors had also managed to acquire enough of the currency of that world that she had been able to create a cache of funds capable of supporting herself and her daughter quite well in that world for many years without being noticed.

The only thing keeping her from escaping was the collar. She had determined that she could be tracked through the collar, and that the man who controlled the collar would know if she tried to tamper with it. As a result, if she tried to flee or remove the collar, Jadeite would find her, and either activate the collar, murder Alicia, or both. The collar had only one flaw that she had been able to find, but it was one she couldn't exploit. The alerts on the collar currently flowed to Jadeite and only to Jadeite. If anything happened to him, she might be able to rid herself of the collar and escape before anyone could rekey the collar to a new controller. Unfortunately, she wasn't in a position to eliminate the man herself at the moment.

Still, given that she was designing weapons for these people, and that there were people on Non-Administered World #97 who kept destroying the weapons they already had, perhaps one day her captor's enemies would get lucky and Jadeite would come to some harm one of these days. It was something to hope for, while she waited for a chance to act against the man directly.

* * *

Minako was very glad that she had gotten very good at coming up with plausible excuses as to why she was dropping out of sight for hours on end over the course of a year and a half of superheroing. Her parents probably wouldn't have approved of her taking the train to a different city on zero notice. Just as well that they didn't know.

The Midori-ya was easy to locate once she reached Uminari. It was only a five-minute walk from the train station. Minako reached it in time to see a group of people wheeling a cart with what was obviously a wedding cake out the door and into a car.

That wasn't a good sign. A café might make cakes for their customers, but normally a person looking for a wedding cake would go to a bakery, not a café. Unless, perhaps, the parents of a certain groom decided to make the cake themselves, and happened to use the oven in their workplace kitchen because it had an oven large enough to make a large cake…

They had run out of time. The wedding was today. Minako started after the car transporting the cake. Fortunately, it didn't have far to go before reaching its destination, or she wouldn't have been able to keep track of where it was going.

Surprisingly, the car's destination wasn't to a church or shrine, but a private residence. The car stopped outside the stone wall surrounding the estate, where a group of people lingering outside the wall walked up to the car and examined it, its contents, and the people in it minutely. Minako had seen enough during her time as Sailor V to recognize a security checkpoint when she saw one. She just couldn't figure out why anyone would set one up for the wedding of a young man in the restaurant business.

There was no way she'd be able to use the disguise compact to sneak in – the guards wouldn't let her in unless she disguised herself as an invited guest, and seeing as she only could think of two potential guests – who for all she knew were already in there – she wouldn't be able to fool them. She would have to wait until the wedding ended before either catching Nanoha on the way out, or slipping in that evening to speak with her if she decided she was spending the night there.

Minako walked around the block several times, using the compact to change her appearance on occasion to ensure that the guards wouldn't wonder why a girl who wasn't from the neighborhood was so interested in the place they were guarding. Not much happened, apart from the arrival of wedding guests, all of whom were checked by security before being allowed in. One guest in particular caught Minako's attention – even more than the fact that the bride had shown up in a limousine (This wasn't exactly a limo neighborhood, and the plates indicated that it was privately owned, not from a chauffer service) – because she knew who the guest was.

Fiasse Crystela. Owner and Headmaster of the Crystela Music Academy. The annual concert tour she went on with the cream of her students not only brought in a good sized fortune for the charities that she donated the profits to, it also was used by recording studios around the world as a talent search. Many of her students that had proven worthy of going on that tour had found recording contracts waiting for them upon graduation. How did Nanoha's family get to know her well enough that they'd invite her to a family wedding? And on a more personal note, once the war against the Dark Kingdom was over, would Nanoha be willing to use her family's association with the owner of the Crystela Music Academy to help the leader of her Senshi become a student there?

Time passed, and the wedding began. From her place outside the compound, Minako couldn't make out much of what was happening, she could only hear when music was played. Her jaw dropped when she realized that not only had the Takamachis managed to get the owner of one of the best music schools in the world to attend the wedding, they had also gotten her to act as the wedding singer. Despite her surprise, she was able to enjoy getting to hear a world-class singer perform live, even if the acoustics from being separated from the singer by multiple walls were far from ideal.

A few minutes later, she heard a crackling noise, and saw what looked like the edge of a portal poking out from above the stone wall. The Dark Kingdom had finally found the princess, and had decided to strike. Even with the apparently formidable skills of Fate, the fact that there would be a large number of civilians in the building would make it a lot harder to fight. It could easily turn into a bloodbath.

Minako ran to find a place she could transform. The Sailor Senshi were the guardians of the Moon Princess, and the princess was in danger.

* * *

Nanoha had spent most of the morning greeting the various wedding guests. Most of them were not relatives – most of her father's family, and the family of his first wife had died before he had married Nanoha's mother. Many of them were people that her brother had met when travelling with their father in his old job, long before she had been born. As a result of that, they were people that she had only met briefly before, if at all.

In fact, the only one of the group of foreigners that had travelled to the wedding that Nanoha had really talked to at any point in her life was Fiasse, who was the daughter of the man her father had once protected before the injuries he sustained on the job forced him to retire from bodyguard work. Even then, she had only met the woman once, when her charity concert tour had taken her through Tokyo during the brief time that Kyouya and Miyuki had joined her security team. Kyouya had arranged for everyone at the Midori-ya to get tickets to the concert, and Nanoha had gotten to meet her after the concert was over. At the time, going to a big concert and getting to meet the star afterwards seemed like such a big event. Then two months later she met a talking ferret and she learned what a _real_ life-altering event was like…

Far more interesting was the meeting between Fate and Fiasse's bodyguard, Elise. It wasn't anything either of them said or did. It was the simple fact that despite the fact that they couldn't possibly be related, given that they weren't even from the same _planet_ , much less the same region, the two could pass for sisters. One of the other guests actually assumed they were sisters, to their mutual discomfort. Especially since it brought to Fate's mind a real sister that she had known disturbingly well, considering that they had never met, and a mother refused to love her younger daughter, no matter how hard Fate tried to win her approval.

The remainder of the pre-wedding gathering passed without incident, and eventually the gathered populace filed into the family dojo for the wedding. The ceremony began uneventfully. Nanoha listened to Fiasse sing with honest enjoyment, having not heard her perform since before she had become a mage. She pretty much phased out the sermon. All was proceeding peacefully until the time came for Kyouya and Shinobu to exchange their vows, when the outside door of the dojo crashed open, and a group of strange humanoid creatures rushed inside, flanked by a group of drones and led by a man in a dark grey uniform.

* * *

Jadeite was sure that this would be his finest moment. Despite the fact that Nephrite was the one who had learned where the Moon Princess would be, the queen had entrusted the task of destroying her nemesis to him. Once he achieved this, his preeminence in the Shitennou would be assured. It wouldn't even be a difficult task. The Senshi would have had trouble taking out as many youma as he had been permitted to bring, and that didn't count the drones, of which the Senshi had barely been able to defeat a single one of, and Jadeite himself. And he was only going up against a girl who had yet to awaken to her powers. Nobody else here was likely to even be able to fight back.

Had this been a family wedding of any person connected to the Moon Kingdom other than the princess, he would have been right. None of the Senshi's families had any real experience in normal combat, and only Rei's grandfather had any knowledge of how to face a supernatural threat. Unfortunately, he was facing Nanoha's family.

The Takamachi family was the last surviving branch of the Fuwa ninja clan. The reason it was the last surviving branch was because the last family reunion had been bombed. That was the main reason why the wedding was being held in the dojo instead of at a church or shrine. They wanted to make sure they could ensure that the wedding was held at a secure location, and that only the people invited showed up, without bringing any unwanted surprises with them, such as the exploding teddy bear that killed Fiasse's father and ended Shiro's bodyguard career shortly before Nanoha's birth. It also ensured that if trouble did show up, the family swords would be nearby so that they could defend themselves.

So it was a complete surprise to Jadeite to see that while most of the people in the room panicked, one of the bride's maids rose from her seat by the wall, grabbed two sets of paired kodachi that had been hanging on the wall right next to her seat, and tossed one of them to the groom. He did not expect two of the other guests to produce guns and start shooting, to be later joined by the security guards outside. He _was_ expecting something on the order of the blonde girl abruptly changing outfits from a formal dress to a black and pink fuku, but not that the mystery Senshi had brought an axe. An axe which upon its owner muttering the words "Haken Form" altered itself to become an energy scythe. Was this girl the Moon Princess's personal guardian, or the princess herself? Not that it mattered. The princess was here, and if he had to kill every single person in the building that she could potentially be, he didn't have any problem with that. He ordered his troops to attack.

The women with the guns emptied their clips at one youma, only to find that a bullet to the center of mass only slowed it down. The groom, who had apparently had been armed even before catching the swords, one of which he had passed to an older man who was probably his father, threw a knife into the eye of the youma. The non-magical blade failed to kill its target, but the pain it caused forced the youma to back off enough for its original opponents to reload and shoot it in the kneecaps.

The two men and the woman with the swords advanced against the youma, attacking with swords, knives, and wire. They were able to bind and wound their enemies, but it didn't matter. Without magic reinforcing their blades, there was no way they could kill them. They would recover. Jadeite turned his attention to the girl with the scythe. She had engaged the drones, and even managed to destroy one, slicing it into pieces. He noted that the mystery Senshi moved so that she was always covering one specific member of the group that wasn't fighting. It looked like he had found the princess…

The other fighters were ignoring the youma they had wounded, assuming them out of the fight. That was a mistake. Soon they would recover from the injuries they had received and would drain their attackers of life energy. Once that was done, they could swarm under the Senshi and then they would eliminate the Moon Princess.

* * *

While it probably only took a minute or two for Minako to find a place to safely transform, it seemed a lot longer. She knew from hard experience just how long two minutes could be in a fight. The moment she transformed, she ran back to the site of the wedding.

She didn't bother worrying about the security guards. In her Senshi form, she was able to leap over the eight foot stone wall as if it was a track hurdle. Once inside the compound, she hurried to the place where all the noise was coming from, praying she wasn't too late.

Arriving at the scene of the battle, Venus was pleasantly surprised to see that the wedding party had made a fairly good showing for themselves, having managed to hold off their attackers until her arrival. Two men and one woman with short swords were facing off against the youma and one of the drones. Fate was confronting another drone with a rather nasty looking scythe, and a woman with dog-like ears that matched the description of Fate's pet in humanoid form appeared to be conjuring up chains out of nowhere to slow the various attackers down.

But things were slowly turning in Jadeite's favor. The security guards who had tried intervening in the fight and at least two others had been drained of energy and were lying on the ground, unable to rise. Given that the swords that three of the defenders were using couldn't do more than slow the youma down, more people would soon follow. One of the drones was raising its blade, looking as if it was about to start killing the fallen defenders.

Venus pulled out her compact and threw it with practiced ease. The crescent boomerang scythed through three youma before striking the drone fighting the groom, scoring a noticeable scratch on its armor before returning to her hand. As it flew through the air, she ran towards the drone about to kill the fallen woman, leaping at it in a desperate jump kick. The blow, powered by magically enhanced muscles, knocked the robot away from its intended victim, its armor noticeably dented. Venus turned her attention to the remaining youma. Those she knew how to take down by herself.

With the addition of one more person capable of taking the attackers out of the fight permanently, the tide began to turn. Within three minutes, the enemy force was on its last legs. That was when Jadeite struck. With everyone mainly focusing on the remainders of the opponents that had actually been fighting, their attention had slipped from him, and he found an opening. He charged forward at the princess, drawing his sword as he did so.

The older of the men who had been fighting the youma might not have been in his prime anymore, but he could still move quickly when he had to. Jadeite found his blade blocked by another.

"You will not harm my daughter." Shiro Takamachi declared.

"I'd like to see you stop me, old fool." Jadeite retorted contemptuously. He reached out with his other hand, and broke the man's arm. Then he knocked the man aside with a casual blow. Turning back to his target, he saw a gloved fist strike him far harder than mere muscle could ever hope to. Staggering back, he saw Sailor Venus bend to pick up the sword that Shiro had dropped, ready to protect her princess with her own life if she had to.

"You have been a thorn in my side for far too long, Sailor Venus." Jadeite snarled. "It's time I dealt with you once and for all."

"Funny. I was thinking the same thing, Jadeite." Venus countered.

Blades clashed as the warriors from the Moon and Dark Kingdom battled for what they knew would be their final confrontation.

* * *

Nanoha was pressed against the wall, like all the other non-combatants in what had been a wedding before the battle broke out. While she had a slightly better idea as to what was going on than most of the people there, that hasn't saying much.

She recognized the outfit worn by the girl who had entered the fight late as being similar to those worn by the girls who had attacked Fate and Aruf the day before, but this girl, rather than attacking them, had saved Aunt Misato's life, and then helped the others confront the attackers. This same girl was now facing down the man who had hurt her father.

While she had no real experience in sword fighting herself, Nanoha had seen experts in action many times, between the Mikami-ryu style practiced by her sister, the Fuwa-ryu style practiced by her father and brother, and the Belkan style practiced by Signum (the few matches that had occurred between Signum and Kyouya were quite impressive). As such, Nanoha could tell that the man who had crashed the wedding was an experienced swordsman – and that the girl facing him wasn't. Despite that, she didn't back down, doing whatever she could to ensure that her enemy was unable to reach Nanoha, even if she lost her life doing it.

Nanoha may not have known what the battle was ultimately about, but she knew which side she supported. And she had been standing on the sidelines long enough. She reached for Raising Heart and began reciting a mantra she had been taught years before.

_I am the one who has been given a mission._

_Under the contract, release these powers._

_Winds to the skies, stars to the heavens,_

_And the unyielding soul to this heart._

_Magic to these hands!_

_Raising Heart, Set Up!_

"Standby. Ready." Her faithful device reported. In a flash, Nanoha found herself in her barrier jacket, her staff at the ready. She knew that in her present condition, she'd only get one shot. She'd have to make it count.

"Divine Buster." Raising Heart announced. Pink light started gathering at the tip of the staff.

"Nanoha, don't!" Fate yelled. Nanoha ignored her.

 _I'd get out of the way, if I were you._ Nanoha telepathically informed the girl in the fuku.

"Divine… BUSTER!" Nanoha yelled, releasing the spell.

Sailor Venus just barely got out of the way in time. A wave of pink light smashed into Jadeite and kept going, blasting through the dojo wall and the stone fence outside. When the light faded, all that was left of the man were a few burnt scraps of his uniform, which blew outside as a draft came through the extra door that Nanoha had just created.

Gasping for breath, Nanoha deactivated her device and dispelled the barrier jacket. Silence reigned in the dojo as the gathered people tried to wrap their minds around what had just happened. Then Miyuki stepped forward.

Miyuki's glasses had fallen off during the fight, and had been stepped on at some point. Her hair ribbon had been sliced off, causing her long braid to come loose. Her bridesmaids dress was ripped and splattered with monster ichor. The crowd watched as Nanoha's sister cleaned her swords on her already beyond help dress and addressed them.

"Was there anybody _else_ who had a reason why these two should not be wed?"

* * *

The wedding resumed. While everyone knew that the police would show up demanding answers soon (Nanoha's blowing up the outside wall guaranteed that, even if the gunshots earlier hadn't), it had been decided that it would be best to finish the ceremony.

Sailor Venus stood at the back. Thanks to this incident, the Sailor Senshi's status as urban legend had just come to an end. There were far too many witnesses, in broad daylight, for her to fade into rumor. Especially since the dismantled robots (And the 'wedding' photos) provided far too much physical evidence to be ignored.

Still, this had been a major victory for the Senshi – their first real victory, from a certain point of view. One of the Shitennou had been defeated. With Jadeite's death, Beryl had suffered the loss of a servant she could not replace. That alone would buy the Senshi some much needed breathing room. Although she hadn't expected his defeat to come the way it had. She had most certainly not expected the princess to do something similar to a Senshi transformation and end up in an outfit that looked like a set of Gundam armor converted into a gown, followed by blasting Jadeite with a beam of energy that looked like something out of a mecha anime. Venus now knew exactly why Nanoha was nicknamed the "White Devil".

Venus knew that she owed Nanoha and Fate an explanation as to what was going on. Hopefully, after the wedding was over she could arrange a meeting to explain things someplace a little less public.

The wedding ended. Mrs. Kyouya Takamachi threw the bouquet. As the eyes of most of the single girls in the audience followed the bouquet, Nanoha's eyes rolled up in her head as she collapsed onto the floor.

"Nanoha!" Fate cried out, turning to her friend. Venus also ran to her princess's side, bending down to examine her. Nanoha was still breathing, but unconscious. Venus didn't know what had caused the collapse, but a glance at Fate's face showed that she had a good idea as to what might have caused it, and was very worried.

As the eyes of the wedding guests all turned to the groom's fallen sister, the bouquet landed unnoticed, falling almost exactly where Venus had been standing before Nanoha's collapse.

* * *

Omake: What the future might hold…

Sailor Pluto stood at the Gates of Time. She had been worried about the future of Crystal Tokyo for years now – ever since the day the princess met a talking ferret long before the time when she was supposed to meet a talking cat. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that if she tried to drive away the ferret, the world would be destroyed long before any of the Senshi could awaken. She had no choice but to watch as the princess came under the influence of people from a place that the Gates could not detect, even when they convinced her to travel with them to that place where she could not attempt to follow.

Now the princess had finally returned, only to get of on the totally wrong foot with her Senshi thanks to Luna's poorly thought out plan to free her from the influence of people that the princess had willingly placed herself under the control of years before. That mistake could potentially have destroyed Crystal Tokyo entirely. Calling on the power of the Gates, Pluto started looking into the far future.

The Gates revealed an image of a long hallway, filled with people, that was not built in the style of the Moon Kingdom. At the far end of the hallway stood a throne. Before the throne knelt a blonde-haired girl in a black bodysuit, a crown being lowered onto her head. As the girl raised her head, revealing her mismatched eyes, Pluto wondered who this was. This looked like the palace of Crystal Tokyo, but this girl was most definitely not Princess Serenity, in her previous life or her current one. What had happened? What did this mean for Crystal Tokyo? Why did the girl being crowned have a bunny plushy at her side?

Far into the future, ignorant of the gaze of a woman from a previous age, Vivio Takamachi assumed the throne as the first Kaiser of the Neo Belkan Empire.

* * *

A/N: I've been looking forward to this chapter since I started this story. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Fate really does resemble Elise. In a strange coincidence, Chrono resembles secondary Triangle Hearts villain Slicer. Of course, Miyuki would be far too polite to say something like "You know, you look a little like someone I cut the kneecap off of a few months ago."

A's had a missed CMOA when they didn't have Signum fight Kyouya and/or Miyuki. Instead, all they did with Nanoha's siblings was have Kyouya endure a light jab about his love life from Miyuki. Foolish animators. Nanoha is not the only Takamachi capable of being awesome.

While Minako did have experience with a sword in her previous life, that doesn't translate to instant mastery in her current one (Though it would make it easier for her to relearn it). Also, in the Silver Millennium, she used a broadsword. Here, she was using a kodachi.


	6. Escapes and Explanations

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 5

Escapes and Explanations

Beryl gazed into her crystal. Soon, her faithful servant Jadeite would launch his attack on the place where Nephrite had prophesied the downfall of the Moon Princess, and her nemesis would fall before she could even attempt to defy the Dark Kingdom. Victory was at hand, and she wanted to see the moment that guaranteed her triumph.

She chuckled with amusement when she saw the people who had gathered at the place Jadeite had attacked attempting to resist. Let them try. The pitiful creatures, even the one who appeared to be a strange Senshi she had never seen before, stood no chance against her forces. Soon they would all be dead, along with the princess they sought to protect, and their life energy would help to fuel the return of Metallia.

She snarled in rage when Sailor Venus joined in the fight. The Senshi had interfered with her plans far too many times, and Venus was the worst of them all. She had been plaguing the Dark Kingdom for the longest, ruined more plans than any of the others, and had been responsible for the loss of many of the few non-youma servants she had at her command other than the Shitennou. It had taken her agents almost a year to realize that 'Sailor V' was a decoy and not the Moon Princess herself. For that affront alone, Beryl wished the Senshi of Love a painful death.

Beryl seethed as the Senshi's arrival allowed the defenders to turn the tide of battle in their favor. Finally, Jadeite moved. Realizing that he must have identified which person in the crowd was the Moon Princess, Beryl held her breath in anticipation. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Then that accursed Senshi blocked her servant's attack. Beryl hissed in fury. She waited for Jadeite to eliminate that annoying girl and kill the Princess, but Venus managed to keep herself between him and the girl who had to be his target.

As the duel between the Senshi and the Dark General continued, the girl who had to be the Moon Princess was enveloped with light, to emerge dressed in a gown of a style unfamiliar to her and wielding a staff. The princess had awakened. Jadeite had to kill her _now_ , before she started interfering yet again.

Unfortunately, the Senshi had succeeded in keeping all of Jadeite's attention focused on her instead of his intended target. The beam of pink light that the princess fired at him took him completely by surprise. When the light faded, Beryl's faithful servant was no more.

Nephrite had promised her the proper moment in which to destroy the Moon Princess. Instead, the Moon Princess had killed one of her generals. Beryl's screams of rage echoed through her palace.

* * *

Precia looked up from her work table when she heard the scream. Something had upset her 'mistress'. Hopefully, the self-styled queen of the Dark Kingdom wouldn't choose to take it out on her. Precia's hand reached for her collar reflexively. As her hand touched it, she realized that something had changed. The links connecting her to Jadeite had broken. Whatever it was that angered Beryl had brought harm to the man controlling the collar – harm serious enough to break his control over Precia. How fortunate.

Precia rose and turned to gather the supplies she had been hoarding. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for. All she had to do was get to Alicia, and she could make her escape. Once she was away from this place, she could figure out how to remove the collar and start working out a plan to secure enough life energy to revive her daughter.

Precia prayed that Beryl's tantrum lasted a good long time. The longer Beryl spent thinking about Jadeite's apparent failure, the longer it would take before anyone thought to check up on her, and the more time she would have to rescue her beloved child and escape.

* * *

Fate looked down at the unconscious girl in her arms. Nanoha was still alive, but she had no idea what kind of damage Nanoha had inflicted upon herself by casting a Divine Buster while she was still recovering from her previous injuries.

Apart from Nanoha, the only member of the wedding party with serious injuries was Nanoha's father. Kyouya and Miyuki had taken several minor injuries, and many others had ended up passing out, and were now recovered if somewhat woozy. Still, Fate knew that the casualties could have been much, much worse. Had this "Sailor Venus" not arrived when she did, there could easily have been deaths, starting with Nanoha's aunt and Nanoha herself.

It was this fact that kept Fate from sticking the other girl in a Lightning Bind and interrogating her at scythe edge the moment the fight ended. This was the third mage in a barrier jacket of that style that she had encountered in two days, and the other two had turned out to be hostile. Even if this mage wasn't hostile, there was probably a connection between her and the other two, and Fate wanted to know what it was, and exactly what was going on.

The sound of sirens heralded the arrival of the police. Nanoha's aunt greeted the officers who entered, presenting her own police credentials as she did so. Fate didn't produce her own. Trying to explain the validity of an ID stating that she was a military police officer of a government that the local authorities would have never heard of that was based on another planet would take all day.

The policemen were skeptical about the original explanation as to what was going on, but the consistent testimony of the witnesses, combined with the presence of Sailor Venus and the dismembered robots scattered across the floor eventually forced them to admit that there really had been a magical girl battle in the middle of a wedding. They then started calling for ambulances.

A disturbingly large number of ambulances arrived to pick up the people who had been injured. Most of them would probably be cycled through the hospital fairly quickly, but Nanoha wouldn't be one of those. The source of her current condition stemmed from a part of Nanoha's body that the planet's physicians had yet to even acknowledge the existence of, let alone develop methods to examine and treat. She sent Aruf to follow Nanoha's ambulance and to keep watch on her. There was no point in risking that the people who ordered this attack might be willing to send a second wave once they realized their first attempt failed.

More police arrived, followed by the media. While the police were forced to divide their attention between their investigation of the incident at the wedding and keeping the press at a distance while they were performing their initial investigation, Fate took the opportunity to approach Venus and take her someplace where she could be questioned discretely.

* * *

The wedding party had moved inside the house and was breaking into smaller groups. While the reception proper would not begin until after the groom returned from the hospital, everyone wanted to get away from the former battlefield and wrap their minds around what had happened.

One thing about the wedding party seemed strange to Venus. Some of the people present, while alarmed at the fact that they had ended up in a battlefield for no immediately apparent reason, seemed totally unsurprised about the presence of several magical girls. The girl she had ended up with, who appeared to be either a younger sister or cousin to the bride, was one of those.

"If Nanoha had been in Tokyo with your group, why wasn't she been able to visit any of her friends until after she got hurt?" The girl asked.

While having Nanoha as part of the Senshi was the reason Venus had come to Unimari, it hadn't happened yet. Why did this girl think that it had already happened as a matter of course?

"Huh?"

"You don't need to hide it. Nanoha and I have been friends for years. I know about her job training magical girls for the government of Fate's home planet. This is the first time I've ever met one of her students."

Venus' mind froze up. Alien governments. Professional magical girls. Professional _trainers_ of magical girls. Her world had suddenly become a lot stranger than it had been that morning. Given how unusual her life had been since she first met Artemis, that was saying something. Though it did explain why Rei had had so much trouble trying to find the Moon Princess in her visions – the princess really had dropped off the face of the planet.

"She isn't one of Nanoha's students, Suzuka," Fate interjected as she walked into the room.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Ms Venus," Fate went on. "I am Enforcer Fate Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau." She produced an ID card with a great deal of official-looking information printed on it in a rather ornate font. "While I realize that I'm outside of my normal jurisdiction, given that this is a non-administered planet, recent events have very much made this my business.

"All that Nanoha and I were looking for when we came here was a nice quiet vacation. Instead, we ended up with a battle in the middle of a wedding, resulting in Nanoha overworking herself into the hospital – _again_. She just got out of there less than a month ago! The person responsible for this – someone you apparently recognized on sight, and who recognized you in turn – deliberately singled out Nanoha as a target. I also can't help but recognize a decided resemblance between your barrier jacket and those worn by two girls who tried to set my familiar on fire yesterday.

"While I'm not going to accuse you of anything, I can't help but think that you know more than a little about the reason for this attack, and possibly the one that happened yesterday. So I'm going to ask you – _what is going on here?_ "

Venus gulped. While she knew that this was necessary, and should have been done at least a week earlier, she also knew that given the circumstances, this was not going to be a pleasant experience.

* * *

Fate blanched when she heard what the Senshi had been going up against. In all her time as a mage, both under her mother and as a TSAB Enforcer, she had never once had a case that lasted more than three months. And she had never been without a support infrastructure (Even if the infrastructure that Precia provided couldn't always be considered to be supportive). Nanoha had only operated as a mage without a support infrastructure until she had first encountered the TSAB, a period of time lasting maybe a month. These Senshi had been operating independently, without any formal training whatsoever, for over a year and were still functioning? She was impressed.

The part of the tale about a magical nation that had been destroyed millennia ago was more problematic. Given that Venus' primary source on this was two talking cats with memories like wensleydale (whatever that meant), Fate couldn't really take the details of that part of the story for absolute fact. She'd have to contact Yuuno to see if there were any records in the Infinite Library about this Moon Kingdom, mages known as Senshi, or a Lost Logia referred to as the Ginzuisho. Although the concept of Nanoha being the Senshi's leader did cause Fate to wonder what her friend would look like with her barrier jacket restyled as a fuku. She found that she liked the image.

Of course, whether or not Nanoha really was this Moon Princess was irrelevant. One of the earliest lessons that she had learned when studying to be an enforcer was that people's actions are not determined by what is true, but rather by what people believe to be true, no matter how inaccurate that belief might be. And since this Dark Kingdom wanted the Moon Princess dead and believed that Nanoha was the Moon Princess, they were going to keep on trying to kill Nanoha until they succeeded or someone forced them to stop. And depending on what kind of transportation spell they were using to bring operatives in and out, they could potentially follow them if Fate took Nanoha to a different planet in an attempt to avoid the turmoil. As the Senshi freely admitted that they weren't capable of defeating the Dark Kingdom with the resources available to them, it would take outside help to ensure that this problem was dealt with. Outside help such as the TSAB.

"I can't guarantee anything," Fate said, "If nothing else, Nanoha is in no condition to be fighting at the moment. But I will be sending a message up the chain of command to see if I can get some more mages here to help deal with this situation." She saw Venus' shoulders sag with relief at the thought of no longer having to face her war alone. "You do realize that this could have been handled much faster if your first representative had been willing to explain all this when I first asked."

"Tell me about it." Venus agreed. "I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind Luna's decision to have Mars and Jupiter attack you. Even if she had been _right_ , it still would have been a bad plan."

Fate's eyes narrowed. "When you next see those two, tell them that they should try to come up with a reason as to why I shouldn't be bringing them in on assault charges. And that I won't go easy on them if they try something like that a second time."

Venus nodded in agreement. "I'll tell them, but I'm not sure if they'll listen. We might have been a team in our previous lives, but in this one we're just a group of girls who happen to be in the same line of work. If the stakes weren't so high, we probably would have gone our separate ways months ago."

That was a disturbing thing to consider. Whenever supposed allies turned against each other, even if it was for reasons that seemed sensible, trouble followed. Hopefully, the reckless ones would have the sense to toe the line if their 'princess' ordered them to behave.

"Is there a way I can contact you?"

"What did you do with the communicator that you got from Luna?" Fate unsealed the watch. Venus flipped it open and pointed at a specific button. "Pressing that button will call my communicator." Venus glanced at a wall clock. "I need to get going if I'm going to catch a train back to Tokyo. Contact me if you need additional information."

"How are you planning to get through the cordon? I don't think the police are willing to let people leave yet."

Venus produced a pen. "I believe you also got one of these. Watch carefully." Venus commanded the pen to turn her into a police officer. A moment later, Sailor Venus had vanished and was replaced by a blonde policewoman. Fate had seen the transition, and despite knowing that this was some kind of deception, a part of her instinctively wanted to accept the faux officer as genuine. She would definitely have to have the pen she had sealed away thoroughly examined when she got back to Mid-Childa.

Fate watched as the young mage casually walked straight through the cordon, completely ignored by people who assumed that she was just another cop passing through. Then she turned her attention towards Bardiche. She had a report to send back home, and it was best if she got started on it immediately. Maybe doing so would help keep her mind off of worrying about Nanoha's condition.

* * *

Nanoha found herself standing in the ballroom she had dreamt about shortly after arriving in Tokyo. Once again she danced with the dark-haired man, who looked familiar for some reason. She gazed into the man's eyes a second time, only to have the romantic moment ended by the sound of a barrier being forced down, followed by the chaotic noise of a battle breaking over people who were totally unprepared to fight one.

As the dream continued, Nanoha found herself running through corridors with her dance partner, apparently seeking some place that could serve as a sanctuary from the battle. But everywhere she ran, monsters – monsters that looked eerily similar to some of the creatures that had attacked Kyouya's wedding – blocked her path. Finally she found herself cornered.

As the monsters closed in, a rescuer arrived. A woman in a white and orange fuku attacked the monsters, cutting down the ones that approached Nanoha. She looked almost exactly like Sailor Venus, the girl who showed up to fight the monsters at Kyouya's wedding. This version managed to single-handedly hold off the attackers, wielding her crystalline broadsword with considerably more ease than the version in the waking world used her borrowed kodachi.

A man with grey eyes and silver hair walked into the room, drawing his sword as he did so. He tried to attack Nanoha, but was blocked the Venus double. The two fought back and forth across the room, their swords clashing as they each sought an advantage over the other. Eventually, the woman started to slow, weakened by the earlier battle against the monsters. Her guard slipped, and the man cut her down.

A red-headed woman with impractically long fingernails and a black gown entered the room and smiled evilly. Then she hurled a blast of energy at Nanoha. Nanoha's companion leapt in front of her, taking the blow at the cost of his own life.

Nanoha screamed with grief as the man died in her arms. As her companion's killer mocked her, she reached out to grasp the hilt of the crystal sword that had been dropped by the Venus lookalike. She took the blade into her hands, raised it off the floor…

And turned the blade around to drive it into her own chest.

Nanoha bolted upright, panting in shock. That dream had been disturbingly real. The sounds, the smells, everything was far too detailed for it to be some idle fancy. She still could feel a slight ache in her chest at the point where the sword would have pierced her.

But even as the dream felt frighteningly realistic, it was also totally wrong. In the dream, when faced with danger, she had fled rather than confronting her opponent or even trying to protect herself or those around her. The last time that Nanoha had behaved like that was shortly before Yuuno gave her Raising Heart. But in the dream, running away was the only thing that occurred to her.

And then, when she had lost all her protectors, she killed herself. That was something that Nanoha couldn't ever see herself doing. If someone had killed Fate in front of her, Nanoha's first reaction would be to take the person responsible down, not to commit suicide. And she was sure that Fate would do the same for her. The fact that Vita did do that for her when she was wounded was pretty much the only reason that Nanoha had survived to receive medical attention after that disastrous mission all those months ago. Nanoha was certain that if the events in that dream were real and she couldn't use magic for some reason, she would have picked up the sword and attacked. She might not have ever trained with the sword, but she knew enough of the theory from watching her siblings and friends practice to make herself at least briefly a threat.

But even as Nanoha tried to convince herself that she would never act that way, and that the dream was just some strange image cooked up by her imagination, another part of her whispered that the dream was far more real than she thought…

Nanoha took a deep breath. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream where she had a date with a strangely familiar guy that she had fallen madly in love with for some reason. Just a dream where a perfect romantic evening turned into a disaster. Just a dream where her beloved had been murdered right in front of her and she killed herself in despair… Nanoha shook her head. She did not want to dwell on that any more than she absolutely had to. Nanoha looked around, searching for something else to focus her attention on.

She was lying in a hospital bed. A needle connected to an IV was stuck into her arm, and a sensor connected to her other arm was attached to a device taking her pulse. Across the room she could see Aruf dozing in a chair. Aruf's head picked up when she heard increased activity in the room.

"Nanoha! You're awake!" She called out joyously. Aruf briefly stepped outside to pass along that fact to the doctors.

Nanoha spent the next two hours being prodded by physicians. Eventually, they couldn't find anything wrong with her beyond extreme exhaustion, which they proposed to fix by having Nanoha finish the glucose feed she was on, have a higher calorie diet, and no strenuous activities for the foreseeable future.

"We'd been trying that, up until the moment a fight broke out at her brother's wedding," Fate pointed out as she walked into the room.

"Does she have a history of collapses like this?" A doctor asked.

"She's always been in the habit of pushing herself. It only reached the point that it noticeably impacted her health recently. I've already contacted her regular doctor about this – a Doctor Shamal Yagami."

Nanoha blinked. If Shamal knew about her collapse, then Hayate would be told of it soon, as would the rest of the Wolkenritter. The only real question was whether they'd be angrier with her for pushing herself into another collapse or the people responsible for the battle that made her overexertion necessary.

The doctor was pleased with that news. "Please have her contact the hospital if there is anything specific about Miss Takamachi's condition that we need to be concerned with."

After the doctor left, Fate turned to Aruf and asked her to set up a barrier to keep sound from leaving the room. Once that was taken care of, Fate turned her attention to Nanoha.

" _ **WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, NANOHA?"**_ She demanded. _**"YOU WERE WARNED NOT TO USE ANY HIGH LEVEL MAGIC! YOU COULD HAVE CRIPPLED YOUR LINKER CORE FOR LIFE! DO I HAVE TO TIE YOU TO THE BED TO MAKE YOU STOP ENDANGERING YOURSELF LIKE THIS?"**_

Fate slumped as the pent-up worry and anger was released by her tirade. Tears rolling down her face, she reached out for Nanoha. "Please, Nanoha," Fate sobbed. "Don't make me worry like that. I almost lost you the last time you collapsed. Do you have any idea how much it scared me when I saw you like that?"

Nanoha held her friend as she wept. After all the months of painful rehabilitation just to regain the ability to walk, she had spent far too much time dwelling on the implications of her injuries to herself. She had forgotten how much her friends had suffered because of her mistake.

When Fate had finally calmed down, Nanoha asked her if she had figured out what the battle at Kyouya's wedding had been about.

"Well, I did get an explanation, but you're not going to believe it." Fate said.

"What is it?" Nanoha insisted.

"We have ended up walking into the middle of a war. Both sides of the war seem to think that you're the reincarnation of a long dead princess of a magical kingdom that was destroyed thousands of years ago."

Nanoha had been well known in magical circles for quite some time, both as a mage and as a trainer of mages. She had assumed that a group of mages interested in her would be interested for one of those reasons. This certainly wasn't what she had been expecting. Nanoha giggled at the sheer absurdity of it. She was the daughter of a baker who used to be a bodyguard. Why would anyone think she was royalty? "And who are the sides in this war?"

"The girls in the miniskirted barrier jackets claim to be the reincarnations of your elite guard – some of whom apparently decided I was holding you prisoner when I wouldn't let them speak to you when they never explained why they wanted to. The man who attacked the wedding was apparently sent by a woman named Beryl, who supposedly destroyed your alleged kingdom in the past, and wants to do it again."

A line of ice ran down Nanoha's spine. That had been the name of the woman who had tried to kill her in her dream. That nightmare was becoming even more disturbing than it had seemed when she first awoke. "But I've never even heard of them before now."

"And they don't care. I've asked Yuuno to look into the story of the first war against this Dark Kingdom, hopefully he'll be able to find something out. Hayate is looking to see if she can get clearance to bring the Wolkenritter here to deal with the situation, which she'll probably get if Yuuno can find any records confirming what I was told. If she can't, Vita will probably take some leave time and show up anyway."

Nanoha sighed. It looked like her first vacation in years had come to a premature end.

* * *

Zoicite was avoiding his queen. He wasn't alone in this – Jadeite hadn't come back from his mission to kill the Moon Princess, and Beryl was taking her anger out on Nephrite for his providing the apparently faulty intelligence that led to Jadeite's failure. Nobody, not even the stupidest of the youma, wanted to provide the queen with an additional target on which to vent her rage. Nephrite's occasional screams of pain reinforced this decision.

While he was searching for something to do that involved staying far away from his queen until she calmed down, he noticed a strange light coming from a room. Looking in, he saw the prisoner that Jadeite had been in charge of overseeing, standing on top of a very complicated diagram that was slowly rotating around her. Nine crystals were floating in the air above her as she concentrated on something.

Realizing that the prisoner had learned of Jadeite's demise and was making an escape attempt, he called upon his magic and hurled a ball of energy at the woman. The attack struck at the same time as her spell completed, failing to stop her escape. Precia had vanished, along with most of the items in the room, including the large capsule containing her daughter. On the ground, one of the crystals she had used to bring about her escape glittered, apparently knocked away from her by the blast.

Zoicite carefully picked up the crystal. There was power in the stone, a great deal of power. His queen might be interested in it. Then he heard Nephrite scream again, and he decided that it, and the matter of Precia's escape, could wait until after Beryl was no longer looking for scapegoats to torment.

* * *

As Minako headed for school, it was clear that her belief that the Senshi's status as an urban legend was over was fully justified. The battle at the Takamachi/Tsukimura wedding was front page news. The newspapers had managed to purchase copies of the 'wedding photos' from the wedding photographer, and as a result, an image of Sailor Venus crossing blades with Jadeite was sharing space with one of Fate and the groom facing the robots, and one of Nanoha blasting Jadeite. By the end of the day, all of Tokyo would know that magical girls really did exist, as well as the monsters they fought. Kami alone knew what their reaction to that revelation would be.

When she got to class, the revelation that the Senshi were real was the topic on the mind of everyone there. Naru and Usagi were both rather smug about being proven right about the Senshi's existence, especially since their opinions were based on having been rescued by them on one occasion (Multiple occasions, in Naru's case). They also were of mixed minds as to whether they should be happy that they now knew for certain that they hadn't hallucinated those rescues, or worried by the fact that they hadn't hallucinated the reason that the rescues had been necessary. Looking at those two, Minako was glad that the Moon Princess had turned out to be someone who took her responsibilities seriously, even if was to the point where she endangered her own health by doing so. She didn't want to think what would happen if the world had ended up depending on a chronic slacker such as her fellow blonde.

As the day passed, the gossip shifted from the existence of Sailor Venus to the other two magical girls to appear in the battle, who were listed in the article by name. Some thought they were Senshi in training, while others wondered if they were part of another group of magical girls that the Senshi were trying to form an alliance with. Still others just wanted to speak with those two in the hopes of being introduced to the Senshi. The ones who thought that Fate and Nanoha were trainee Senshi started speculating on how one would get accepted into such a training program. Minako spent the day doing her best to not visibly laugh at the more inherently absurd theories her classmates came up with.

When Minako had returned home and started on her homework, her communicator beeped. Hoping that it was a message from Fate about what she and Nanoha were going to be doing about the Dark Kingdom, Minako activated it and found that the call was actually from just about everyone other than who she expected.

"Well, now the whole world knows that we're real." Rei commented. "Did you manage to accomplish anything else with that public stunt of yours?"

"Well, for starters, the princess's friend thinks of me as the person who saved the life of the princess's aunt, as opposed to you and Kino-san, who she sees as the people who tried to set her dog on fire. By the way, she really wants to talk to you two. Something about felony assault charges," Minako retorted. She really didn't want to have this argument right now. If Rei had wanted to talk about this, she could have called during lunch. With all of the other Senshi going to the same school, it would have been a lot easier to coordinate, without cutting into their highly limited supply of free time.

"What right does she have to complain?" Luna snapped. "Whatever she did to the princess made her collapse after she defeated Jadeite. We have to do something about her before she hurts the princess any further!"

"Will you stop jumping to conclusions, Luna? Acting on your speculation nearly ruined everything," Artemis countered.

"According to Fate, the reason that Nanoha collapsed is because our princess is a compulsive workaholic who overworked herself into the hospital and had yet to recover when she fought Jadeite. Apparently, she takes her job as a magical girl trainer so seriously that we nearly lost our princess to karoshi," Minako added.

There were a series of gasps over the line as the others digested that horrible possibility. Then Makoto asked "Magical girl _trainer_?"

"That's right. Apparently, her friends and family have known about that for years. One of them assumed that I was one of her students. When Luna approached Fate, she probably thought that we were seeking Nanoha out to get some lessons."

Ami asked the most important question. "Will the princess be alright?"

"I'm not sure. Fate will probably call in some doctor who knows how to treat whatever condition Nanoha's suffering from. If we're lucky, she might also be calling in some other people to help deal with the Dark Kingdom. So from now on, if you see any strangers with magic around, don't attack them unless you're sure that they're youmas. We've made too many mistakes recently, we can't afford any others."

Minako closed the communicator and returned to her homework. She had a patrol tonight, so she needed to get it done now if she was going to be able to hand it in tomorrow. Hopefully Fate would be able to bring in reinforcements. They could use the help.

Still, with the first positive contact between the Senshi and the Moon Princess, even if it was via a proxy, things were starting to look up.

* * *

Beryl held the crystal that Zoicite had brought her before the slumbering form of Metallia. Her master absorbed the energy contained within the stone, causing the light that it emitted to fade to nothing. As the last of the light vanished from the jewel, it crumbled into dust

It was obvious to a casual glance that Metallia had gained enough power from draining the crystal to make a significant step towards recovery. With a few more of them, she could revive Metallia without the Ginzuisho. She strode out of Metallia's lair and returned to where Zoicite was waiting for her.

"You said that the prisoner had more of these crystals?" She asked.

"Yes, my Queen. Including the one that I presented to you, she had nine of them. The remaining eight crystals are presumably still in her possession." He replied.

Beryl smiled. "Find her. Find her and bring those crystals to me."

* * *

Omake: If the story had taken place a few years later…

"You won't get away with this. We will free the princess from your clutches." Luna snarled.

Fate's head rose at that comment. "Oh, so _that's_ what this is about." She commented. "Why didn't you just say that you were Belkan?"

Luna wasn't certain why being Belkan (whatever that meant) would be a sensible explanation for wanting to see the princess in and of itself, but if it allowed her to contact the princess, Luna was willing to play along. She nodded carefully.

Fate looked back down at her. "Look. Nanoha and I are fully aware of the fact that our daughter is your rightful queen. But Vivio is only five years old, and she finds being addressed as royalty to be embarrassing. Could you please just allow her to grow up in peace? Even if she was old enough to try to rebuild your empire, she's nowhere near ready to decide whether or not she even wants to."

As Fate left, Kamen choked on the thought that the princess who haunted his dreams at night was a mother. Meanwhile, Luna tried to wrap her mind around the concept of a second fallen nation being involved in this. Would those people interesting in restoring the Belkan Empire be a threat to the Moon Princess? Or could they be recruited into an alliance to restore both nations? She would have to look into this matter further.

* * *

Omake: My original idea for the reveal

Nanoha bolted upright. The dream she had just had had been scarily realistic. She could practically feel the sword entering her chest. What was going on with these nightmares?

Standing on the other side of the room was Sailor Venus, the girl who had guarded her at the wedding, and who she had seen die defending her in her dream. What was she doing here?

"It's good to see that you're alright, your highness." Venus said.

"Your… Highness?" Nanoha asked, puzzled.

The girl dropped to one knee in front of Nanoha's bed.

"Nanoha Takamachi, Princess of the Moon. I am Sailor Venus, commander of the Sailor Senshi. We are yours to command." She stated formally.

There was a sound of something falling to the ground. Nanoha turned her head to see Alisa and Suzuka standing in the doorway.

"Alright, Nanoha." Alisa said. "You've been hiding quite a few things from your friends over the years – the fact that your pet ferret was a shapeshifting wizard,"

"The fact that Fate was from another planet and not from Italy like you originally claimed," Suzuka continued.

"Your being recruited as a professional magical girl by the government of Fate's homeworld,"

"When were you planning to let us know about this little detail?"

The look on Venus' face as Nanoha tried to explain to her friends that this development was as much as a surprise to her as it was to them was priceless.

* * *

A/N: I'm choosing to believe that Beryl had more second-tier field commanders than just Danburite. However, between the efforts of the Senshi and Beryl's temper, they have all been permanently removed from the equation by the time the story started.

Yes, Usagi does exist in this universe. But she's just an ordinary subaverage Japanese schoolgirl. The only connection she has to the Senshi (That she knows of, anyway), is that she had to be rescued by them once.

The Senshi are not trained professionals like Nanoha, Fate, and the Wolkenritter. In some ways that makes what they were able to accomplish more impressive. In modern terms, their actions are like a self-recruited, self-trained part time militia formed of people who had no combat experience beyond schoolyard scuffles before being recruited, no logistics, a shoestring budget, and the closest thing they have to medical support is someone who plans to apply to medical school at a point several years in the future. Said militia then ends up being the only line of defense against a considerably larger enemy force, with no way to detect an impending attack until it happens and no way to launch an counteroffensive, even if they knew where they were supposed to attack. And then they manage to successfully hold the line until real professionals learn of their situation – _a year and a half later_. There are undoubtedly a lot of things they could have done better. That doesn't in any way change the fact that they managed to accomplish that much is an astonishing achievement.

Karoshi – death from overwork. An unfortunate phenomenon that has happened often enough in Japan to be officially listed as a distinct cause of death in their health statistics.

This fic now has its own page on TvTropes! Sweet! Now if only someone would examine Black Hands of NERV for noteworthy trope examples.


	7. Briefings and Debriefings

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 6

Briefings and Debriefings

The palace was burning. Its halls echoed with the sounds of battle and the cries of the wounded and dying. The palace guards had long known that the infrequent full court gatherings were a security nightmare – a bombing or attack could result in the near total destruction of the upper tiers of the Moon Kingdom's government. One of the precautions in place was to have the Senshi on call to respond to any trouble reported by the outer perimeter of guards, so that any serious attack could be stopped before it got to the palace proper.

Unfortunately, that strategy made the basic assumption that the outer perimeter would last long enough to sound the alarm. By the time the attack was noticed, the youma had breached the palace walls and were roaming the hallways. And the phenomenal power of the Sailor Senshi wasn't really suited for close quarters. Any one of them could have decimated the attacking ranks with a powerful blast of elemental magic had they been fighting the invaders outside of the palace. Inside the palace, they couldn't use their full power without endangering the members of the court they were trying to protect. Also, the attackers had spread out after the initial breach, which meant that there generally weren't enough youma in any one place that the raw power of a Senshi wiping them out would have any significant impact on the battle as a whole. There was no longer any real possibility of victory in this battle. Only the faint hope that they could evacuate enough people that there would be a chance of rebuilding once the carnage stopped.

That was what Sailor Venus had been sent to do – to protect the Queen's heir so that she could hopefully create a new Moon Kingdom from the ashes of the old. The Queen knew that she was unlikely to survive using the Ginzuisho to stop the attackers, so she had entrusted the leader of her Senshi with the task of guarding the girl who would be queen, one way or another, by the time this night was done.

Venus ran through the hallways, cutting down any youma to cross her path with her crystal sword. Her body was covered in minor wounds, she was drenched in sweat, and she was panting for breath from exertion. It didn't matter. The Queen had entrusted her with the task of ensuring the Moon Kingdom's future, and she would fulfill her duty, no matter what.

After fighting her way across what seemed like several miles of the palace hallways, Venus finally found Princess Serenity and her betrothed cornered in what had been a room with a rear exit before a ceiling collapse destroyed it. With no time to catch her breath, she raised her blade and attacked the youma closing in on her future queen.

Venus had barely managed to finish off the last of the youma when another figure entered the room – Kunzite, one of Prince Endymion's generals and one of the individuals reported as leading the army of youma in their attack. Were it not for the fact that the monsters were attacking the visiting dignitaries from Earth as readily as they did the locals, she might have suspected that the entire battle was a plot by Endymion's people to conquer the Moon Kingdom. No matter. Right now she had to perform her duty. Worrying about how this catastrophe came to be could wait.

"You… go… no… further." She gasped.

"I'd like to see you stop me." He countered.

As their blades clashed, Venus knew she was at a disadvantage. She had been worn down by continuous fighting, her opponent was still fresh. Kunzite was also good enough that he wasn't likely to leave her an opening on purpose. Venus found herself on the defensive, knowing even as she blocked her enemy's attacks that she was more likely to make the first mistake than he was if she remained that way. She had to break his pattern and create an opening, or she would lose the fight.

As Kunzite's blade swung at her side, Venus saw a chance to take the offensive. The timing would be harder than a simple block, but it would give her the opening she needed to actually strike her opponent. She urged her exhausted muscles to move her sword into position for a counter.

She wasn't fast enough. Kunzite's blade sank into her ribs, cutting deep into her torso. Her sword dropped from her fingers as she fell to the ground. The relief that had entered the eyes of the princess changed to despair as her champion died. As she bled out on the floor, Venus's last thought was that she had failed her queen.

Minako jerked upright as the nightmare ended. Realizing that she was not going to get back to sleep after that, no matter what the time, she staggered out of bed, clutching her side as it ached in phantom pain. Those TV psychics who prattled on about getting in touch with their past lives had clearly never actually done it – if they had, they wouldn't have been interested in talking about it in public.

Why couldn't she ever relive a fun memory of her past life, like a really hot date or something? She had never once relived a moment where Sailor Venus had enjoyed herself. The most common memory by far was the night she died; leaving Minako to cope with the echoes of her past life's dying guilt over failing in her duties. The knowledge that she had actually managed to successfully protect the princess from the agents of the Dark Kingdom in the time since she last relived that night had not blunted the feeling.

Minako wondered if her colleagues suffered from chronic nightmares of their deaths at the hands of Beryl's minions back in the Silver Millennium. They'd never really felt comfortable enough around each other to compare notes on such things.

Maybe, if she was really lucky, the memories, or at least that specific memory, would stop coming to mind once the war was over once and for all. That would be nice. Minako wondered when Nanoha and Fate would contact her. She had a feeling that the lull caused by Jadeite's death wouldn't last forever.

* * *

Yuuno drifted across the Infinite Library. It had taken years of work, but he had finally gotten the TSAB's main archive organized enough that data requests could be responded to in less than a week if they landed on the desk of anyone other than him. Maybe now he could delegate some of the work load to his assistants and take some time off for some archeological work that was his original job. So far, every time he had done that before, he had found an enormous workload waiting for him, passed on from other librarians who couldn't track down the information that was requested. Once they had actually had to pull him from a dig to get his help with a critical case.

He and Nanoha had drifted apart over the years, mainly because both of them were too busy for anything to possibly grow between them. He knew that there were people who speculated that he had been in a serious relationship with the Ace of Aces, but nothing had ever really happened. Other people had made similar speculation concerning Nanoha and Fate (something that Yuuno suspected that Fate wouldn't mind being true), but as far as he could tell, Nanoha was married to her job. At least, she had been up until her hospital stay forced her to realize that the only serious relationship she had gotten into had turned abusive…

The Device he had acquired to replace Raising Heart announced that he had a call. Bringing up the comm window, he saw that it was Hayate.

"Hello, Yuuno." Hayate said. "We just got a message from Fate."

"I thought Fate said she didn't want any communication between her and us until she got back from vacation," Yuuno pointed out, "Something about how if Nanoha heard of anything that she felt she was needed to help deal with, she'd push herself too hard and wreck her convalescence." This was something that Yuuno felt was worryingly plausible.

"I'm afraid that despite Fate's best efforts, work found them. Nanoha ended up overstraining her Linker Core again when someone attacked her brother's wedding. Fate sent us some background data from a civilian mage who helped contain the attack, but it's a little strange. Could you do some research into this and see if you can corroborate any of this?"

Yuuno sighed. It looked like his break from library work to go back to archeology would have to be postponed. Looking over the file he had just been sent, he prepared to search for any information he could find on a long-destroyed nation known as the Moon Kingdom.

* * *

Two days later, Yuuno was called to a meeting to present the results of his research. Straightening the stack of notes he had taken, he walked to the head of the conference room.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," He began, taking the tone of voice he used when delivering a paper to a seminar, "I've been looking into the background information provided to us by the civilian mage who aided in defeating the attempted assassination of Lt. Takamachi. While I have not been able to find any evidence to prove or disprove the alleged connection between Lt. Takamachi and this Moon Kingdom, I have been able to find records proving that this Moon Kingdom existed.

"This Moon Kingdom, or perhaps, Queendom, since it appeared to be matriarchic, existed during the same time period as Al-Hazard. There was limited contact between the two civilizations, but there is no evidence of any kind of regular diplomatic communication or regular trade routes between them. This is why earlier research into the history of Al-Hazard didn't notice or comment on them.

"The Moon Kingdom was a multi-planet polity that occupied a single solar system, controlling just about everything there except for one planet which was self-governed. Judging from what we've been told by Enforcer Harlaown, that independent planet was probably Unadministered Planet #97. The Sailor Senshi mentioned in the original report were apparently an elite mage unit which consisted of one representative of each planet in the Moon Kingdom.

"The artifact known as the Ginzuisho also existed. It appears to be an extremely powerful Lost Logia similar to the Jewel Seeds, which had a disturbingly high chance of killing the user. Because of this, it was apparently only used in emergencies. It was supposed to only be usable by the Queen or her heir, but I'm not sure of the accuracy of that claim. It was considered to be one of the crown jewels, so it's highly unlikely that anyone else would ever be able to get a hold of it long enough to try using it.

"As to what caused the collapse of the Moon Kingdom, I'm afraid that I can't say. The second to last record I was able to find didn't mention any known internal or external threat to the region. The absolute last record reports finding every single planet, station, moon and asteroid in the Moon Kingdom being completely depopulated, with the population Unadministered Planet #97 having been blasted back to barbarism. These two records are roughly three months apart in time. Since nobody could figure out what had caused the calamity, let alone whether or not said cause was likely to return, no attempts to claim the now deserted territory were made."

"So there's no evidence of this entity known as Metallia?" An admiral asked.

"There's no mention of it, but the only records we have come from casual outside observers, and even those are fragmentary. It's quite possible that these observers never heard of this Metallia, even if a significant fraction of the populace knew of its existence. Whatever it was that destroyed the Moon Kingdom, it struck hard enough and fast enough to wipe out an entire civilization – one which had spread across an entire solar system – to the last man. And when it struck, it did so fast enough that there were no distress calls sent, no refugee ships fleeing the system, and no evidence of its existence other than the destruction left in its wake."

"And this disaster is going to repeat?"

"It might," Hayate responded, "According to the basic briefing we received from this Sailor Venus, Metallia was never destroyed, just incapacitated at a horrific cost. This Dark Kingdom appears to be trying to revive it. If it really was capable of wiping out almost all life in a solar system in three months or less, there's no telling how much damage would result if it attacks again. It might not stop with destroying just one system."

The admiral looked troubled by that point. "Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. Expect your orders in regards to this situation to arrive shortly."

* * *

Nanoha was resting in her own bed. With the wedding over and Kyouya off on his honeymoon, she and Fate had moved out of the hotel room in Tokyo and gone back to Unimari. While they both knew they would have to do something about the Dark Kingdom issue eventually, Nanoha wanted to be able to spend some time with her family and childhood friends.

Things were different in Unimari. Back when she was starting out as a mage, the only people without TSAB connections to know about her magical abilities were her relatives, Arisa, and Suzuka. Now, everybody knew. And while the majority of the population of Mid-Childa had magical abilities to some extent (though most did not come close to Nanoha's power level), mages were an extreme rarity here on Unadministered Planet #97. Former classmates, many of whom she barely knew, wanted to know more about magic and her association with the apparently legendary Sailor Senshi. The Takamachis had been ultimately forced to have Aruf drive all unwanted guests away.

Aunt Misato had been able to find some information about the Sailor Senshi. While they had mainly been considered an urban legend, one of them, Sailor V, or Venus as she was later known, had been in the habit of doing occasional vigilante work in addition to hunting alleged (and now confirmed) monsters. She had a fairly good reputation with the police forces she had crossed paths with, although said officials in general were reluctant to publicly admit that they needed the assistance of any kind of vigilante, let alone a teenaged girl in a figure skating outfit, to keep the streets safe.

Nanoha heard a set of footsteps approach her room. She was surprised to find that her visitor was Shamal.

"You've certainly managed to mess yourself up, haven't you, Nanoha?" She asked. Realizing that the question was rhetorical, Nanoha remained silent as Shamal activated Klair Wind and began her examination. Shamal frowned as she completed her investigation.

"You managed to seriously mess up your Linker Core, Nanoha," She pointed out, "It's almost in as bad a shape it was in when you came out the coma. If you do something like that again, you'll risk losing the ability to use magic completely."

Nanoha winced. Losing her magic forever? To never be able to fly again? That was something that had haunted her nightmares during the long months in the hospital when she was relearning how to walk. If it hadn't been for Fate's help, she might have given up all hope.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to insist that you not use any magic at all for the foreseeable future, Nanoha," Shamal continued. Nanoha nodded.

"Are the others coming?" Nanoha asked.

"Hayate just got approval to investigate the Lost Logia known as the Ginzuisho and the potential dimensional threat designated as Metallia. She's with the rest of the Wolkenritter and our support team setting up a headquarters in Tokyo. Yuuno also came along. He said he was interested in doing some research on this Moon Kingdom. I was sent to check up on you and pick you up."

* * *

Minako's patrol had seen some action, but not as much as there could have been. The Dark Kingdom operation had apparently been supported by two youma and one of the robots. The youma had been easy enough to deal with once she found a way to separate them from the robot. She still hadn't figured out exactly what had happened to the robot. Around the time she had finished with the second youma, she had heard an enraged scream and a lot of crashing noises. When Venus had made it to the sound of the commotion, the robot had apparently been smashed to scrap by a large hammer. The person who had demolished the robot was not around, but Venus thought that she had glimpsed something red briefly go by in the distance.

Reaching for her communicator, Venus was about to cancel the call for reinforcements she had put in (which would undoubtedly result in her colleagues being understandably upset about the unneeded disruption to their limited spare time) when she received a call. Opening the communicator, she saw that the caller was Fate.

"Sailor Venus?" Fate asked.

"Yes?" Venus responded.

"We'd like to speak with you and your associates," This was followed by a time and place.

"We'll be there."

"Good. Oh, yes. Some friends of mine just came to town. One of them is rather upset about what happened to Nanoha, and is looking for something to vent on. If you see her, don't get in her way, you could get hurt – Vita's rather dangerous when she's angry. It's not hard to recognize her – she's a little girl in a red dress with plush bunny heads on her hat and carries a metal croquet mallet. Whatever you do, do _not_ make fun of her hat."

Venus looked as the wrecked machine she was standing next to. "I think she's already passed through here. I'll see you at the meeting." With that, the conversation ended.

It had been nearly a week since the battle at the wedding. Up until that call was made, the most interesting development since that fight was the newspaper article that speculated that the attack might have been connected to a terrorist group whose leader had been killed by the groom during an attempt to kidnap Fiasse Crystela several years previously. This at least explained why the singer had been willing to attend the wedding, and how the guests were able to hold off Jadeite's troops for so long. But now, events were starting to move forward.

Venus set her communicator to 'send to all' and said five words that she had been hoping to speak or hear for well over a year.

"The Princess has summoned us."

* * *

Sailor Mars was understandably nervous as she approached the place where she and the other Senshi were to meet their princess at last. The princess had little reason to like her and Mars was forced to admit that the anticipated antipathy was justified. But how was she supposed to know that the unknown magical girl who hovered around the princess constantly was well intentioned? The Senshi as a whole had seen far too many cases of agents of the Dark Kingdom who had disguised themselves as ordinary people to get close to their target. The most painful example in Mars's eyes was her last battle from her previous life, where she had saved the life of a young girl from a group of youma, only to have the girl turn into another youma and fatally wound her from behind as she tried to move on to the next fight. The last thing she saw in that life was the youma that had killed her being cut down by Sailor Jupiter.

After everyone had gathered in a park that was close to the meeting place, they all headed towards the place where they were told that their princess was waiting for them. When Venus knocked on the door, Mars was surprised to find the door opened by a girl in a uniform who was only one foot tall and was floating in midair.

"You must be Nanoha's knights!" The miniature girl said. "I'm Sergeant First Class Reinforce Zwei. We've been expecting you."

While that title wasn't exactly correct, it was close enough to the truth that none of the Senshi bothered to correct it. Mars did wonder how the living doll had managed to get a military rank as she led the Senshi inside.

The princess was sitting in a recliner, with two enormous dogs lying at her feet. She was dressed in what appeared to be a uniform of a different style than that worn by the tiny sergeant. There was a small ferret resting on her shoulder.

Four Senshi approached the princess's makeshift throne and knelt. They remained there, waiting for their future queen to acknowledge them. The moment was broken by the sound of a camera taking a picture. Heads turned to see another uniformed woman holding a camera.

"Hayate!" The princess protested.

The other girl giggled. "Sorry, Nanoha, but we just had to capture this moment of history. Even if your subjects did fail to follow proper protocol in these matters," The photographer turned to address the Senshi. "Royalty or not, no soldier is entitled to a genuflection. When your monarch is in uniform, you're supposed to bow, not kneel."

While Luna bristled at the implication that she had failed to educate the Senshi properly in court protocol (something that the Senshi as a whole had not considered to be very important while they were busy trying to keep Beryl from destroying the world) and the Senshi climbed to their feet, several other people entered the room.

"Let me introduce you to the TSAB personnel who have been assigned to this case." The princess began. "Most of you have met Fate and Aruf," indicating the blonde that all of the Senshi were familiar with and her dog, which was considerably larger than Mars remembered, "The others are Yuuno," indicating the ferret, "Hayate," The girl with the camera, "And Hayate's knights, Signum, Vita, Shamal, Zafira, and Rein," Who were, respectively, a tall woman with pink hair, a very young redhead, a blonde who looked like a doctor, the grey dog, and the miniature girl the Senshi had already met. "Hayate is in charge."

"You're not going to lead us, your Highness?" Artemis asked.

"I can't. First, I'm in no condition to be on the front lines. Second, I'm a combat instructor, not a commander. Finally, Hayate is a major. I'm just a first lieutenant. She outranks me."

That was something that none of the Senshi had considered. Their princess did not see herself as a ruler. She saw herself as a member of a foreign military force, and was deferring to her superiors in that force. From the perspective of a girl who mainly wanted the war to be over so that she didn't have to fight anymore, Mars didn't particularly care about that so long as this resulted in the Dark Kingdom going down, but she was willing to bet that Luna wouldn't care for that development one bit.

"Now," The princess continued, "Will you please identify yourselves? Your barrier jackets seem to have some disguise function built into them."

The Senshi exchanged glances. At Venus's nod, they all released their transformations. The princess's eyes widened as she recognized Venus's civilian identity. "Minako?"

"Hello, Nanoha." Minako said.

The two exchanged a look that clearly stated that they would need to talk at a later point, and then the major intervened.

"I believe that some of you were involved in an unprovoked assault on a TSAB Enforcer a few weeks ago. Would the individuals responsible for that please identify themselves?"

Knowing that she had to take responsibility for her potentially disastrous actions, Rei stepped forward, joined by Luna, Makoto, and Mamoru.

"Attacking a police officer is a serious crime," The major stated, "Even if the perpetrator is unaware of that the individual they assault is an officer of the peace. We would be well within our rights to lock you all up for several years. I hope you all understand that." The four nodded silently as they saw the princess look at them disapprovingly.

"However, we have other possible sentences for crimes of this nature, which I believe may be valid given the circumstances. One of these is to sentence the perpetrators to a period of community service under TSAB supervision. Many of them even go on to join us full time when their sentence is over. I think you understand what I'm getting at."

Rei did understand. If she agreed to work for the Princess's employers while they worked to defeat the Dark Kingdom, she would be forgiven. The price she was to pay for her mistake was to complete her mission as a Sailor Senshi. All in all, the punishment was much lighter than she had feared it would be.

"Just remember," Hayate continued. "If any of you cause any more trouble, we won't be so merciful."

* * *

What followed was the most mentally exhausting experience the Senshi had ever been through. The Moon Cats were led off by the ferret, who surprised all of the Senshi by transforming into a young man shortly after jumping off the princess's shoulder (causing Minako to look at Artemis with extreme suspicion when it was revealed that the young man was a human who could turn into a ferret rather than the other way around). The cats were then subjected to an exhaustive interview about every single piece of background information they could extract from their scrambled memories about the chain of events that led up to the fall of the Moon Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Senshi were getting a similar treatment concerning the current war against the Dark Kingdom. They were asked about exact time and location of every battle they had fought, the details of which were plotted on a large map of the area, which was analyzed by other people in the hopes of finding some sort of pattern. They were asked to provide detailed descriptions of all of the known field commanders in the Dark Kingdom, complete with whatever abilities they had demonstrated. They were questioned on the specific details of all of their battles. All of these efforts were hindered by the fact that apart from Ami, who had recorded a great deal of information in her computer, none of them had ever thought about doing something like this before, and after a year and a half of combat, the details started to blur together.

It took hours, and when it was over, they had all reasserted their opinion that they did not want to stay in that line of work any longer than they absolutely had to. When they were finally allowed to leave, they were told to return the next day for an evaluation of their combat skills.

Upon returning the next day, they discovered that the TSAB had the ability to create time/space distortions in which they could train without being observed by outsiders or destroying the landscape. Then they were set against several low end TSAB agents while their princess and her friends observed them from their base.

"They aren't very well coordinated. They don't seem to be able to do much in the way of joint tactics unless Mercury comes up with a plan and tells the others about it out loud. Which gives the plan away." Hayate noted.

"They aren't very good at keeping track of everyone on the battlefield, either. Look at how Venus and Jupiter just managed to get in each other's way." Nanoha added.

"They don't seem to have many spells, and what they have aren't very fast." Fate continued, and then winced as one TSAB mage was enveloped in a fireball. "But if they see an opening, they can definitely make a hit count. I'm not sure they know how to pull a hit."

"That's not surprising," Signum said. "From what I've heard, only one of them has experience in fights which weren't literal life-or-death battles. They've probably never had any use for non-lethal spells, even if they had someplace to hold a prisoner once they had one."

The others nodded. They could certainly understand focusing one's training to meet the problems they knew they would be facing. It was a known fact that Signum's skill in fire magic could incinerate a large forest in minutes but couldn't heat a furo without cooking the bather alive. As a Belkan knight, it had never occurred to her to use her magic for non-martial purposes until fairly recently.

"You're right," Nanoha agreed. "The two sides are fighting with different rules of engagement. Our people are fighting as if they're in a police action. They're trying to contain and capture their opponents. The Senshi are fighting as if they're in a war. They're trying to take their opponents out of action as quickly as possible. If it wasn't for the difference in training, this would totally one sided."

"What are their power levels like?" Hayate asked.

"It looks like they're all functioning around A class, but they aren't even close to operating at their full capacity. It looks like every single one of them will end up as AAA class or higher if they reach their full potential." The technician running the monitor reported.

Fate cringed. If the two that had ambushed her been close to their full power, they might very well have been able to kill her.

The mock battle ended with Jupiter knocking the last two TSAB mages unconscious with her bare hands after all the other Senshi had been caught in binds. A win for the Senshi, but a rather Pyrrhic one considering that the match had been 5 A class mages against 6 C class mages.

Nanoha walked up to the console and pressed a button. A comm window appeared inside the training area.

"Alright, that's enough for now. Help the injured get back to base for treatment and then you can call it a night. I'll let you know when I'm ready to conduct your first lesson." She said.

The barrier dispersed, and the injured were carted off to Shamal's care. Then the Senshi dispersed.

As Nanoha worked out how best to train her would-be protectors, Hayate and the Wolkenritter resumed their examination of the Senshi's debriefing, trying to figure out some coherent pattern that would allow them to figure out where the Dark Kingdom would strike next, or at least some general area that would make working out patrol schedules simpler. While that was going on, Yuuno entered the room.

Everyone involved with the various interviews had been too busy compiling the results of their own interviews to touch bases with the other people involved. It looked like one of them had gotten his own notes in good enough order to try correlating them with everyone else's.

"So, what have you found out, Yuuno?" Hayate asked.

"Well, for starters, I have what is apparently the reason the Moon Kingdom was destroyed, but it's rather strange." He answered.

"What is it?" Nanoha inquired.

"Apparently, this war is being fought over your love life."

" _ **EEEHHHH**_ _ **?** "_

* * *

Omake: Aborted war

"So you have finally come out of hiding, Serenity." Beryl snarled. "You should have kept cowering in your hole. I will crush you, and Endymion will be mine."

Nanoha looked confused. "Why would I want Kamen-san when I have Fate-chan?"

Beryl froze. "You mean… You don't want him?"

Nanoha shook her head, placing an arm around Fate, a gesture that Fate eagerly returned.

Beryl squealed in glee. "That's great!" She cast a spell that dragged Tuxedo Kamen towards her.

"But my Queen, what about reviving Metallia?" Kunzite protested.

"Who cares about that thing? I only agreed to serve it in exchange for the power to defeat my rival. Since she's already forfeited the prize, there's no need to bother with all that." With that, Beryl vanished, taking Tuxedo Kamen with her. Her Generals exchanged glances, and then also left.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Jupiter turned to her fellow Senshi.

"Do any of your families have a well stocked liquor cabinet?" She asked.

"My grandfather tends to drink a lot. Why?" Mars answered.

"We've spent a year and a half fighting a war in the shadows, and the war just got called off because our princess declared that she was a lesbian. I say we all get completely wasted and try to forget that this whole thing ever happened. All in favor?"

She was answered by a chorus of Ayes, and the Senshi left for the last activity that they would ever perform as a team.

* * *

A/N: I know the ranks of the various characters don't match up to the ranks they hold in StrikerS. Since this takes place before that point, I have arbitrarily reduced their ranks a grade or two.

Why are Rei, Makoto, Luna and Mamoru getting off with community service? Future friends introducing themselves via an unprovoked attack is as much a MGLN tradition as Befriending. Fate, Aruf, and every member of the Wolkenritter other than Rein first started their relationship with Nanoha by attacking her. And every single time, Nanoha was willing to give them a second chance once they explained themselves. But given the circumstances, those four will not be trusted to operate without supervision until they have proven themselves.

Hayate brought some generic TSAB mooks with her. They will for the most part remain nameless. Their most important role is likely to take up the routine patrols so that the Senshi can afford to take the time to get trained properly.

The only reason the TSAB mooks were able to do such a good job fighting against the Senshi is because of the training gap. And because of the mindset difference, they wouldn't have done so well in a real fight. A real fight would have had three Senshi and Kamen incapacitated, in exchange for four agents _dead_ , with the other two possibly joining them shortly afterwards.


	8. Sailor Boot Camp

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or MGLN

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Chapter 7

Sailor Boot Camp

All eyes in the room turned to Yuuno as his audience went over his rather unusual statement in their heads.

"You're joking, right, Yuuno?" Fate asked. She couldn't have heard that right. There was no way that the war that she and Nanoha had walked into had started over a cause as inherently absurd as who Nanoha had or had not dated in a previous life. Nanoha's convalescence leave just couldn't have been wrecked by something that stupid. If it had, she would just have to track down the idiot who couldn't understand that no meant no and introduce him to a Thunder Smasher.

"I'm afraid not." Yuuno replied. "Apparently, Princess Serenity – Nanoha's alleged identity in that incarnation – was engaged to marry a Prince Endymion, who was the heir of a nation here on Unadministered Planet #97. Despite the political value of a marriage between two heirs, something that could potentially result in the merging of their countries, the two moon cats indicated that this was a love match.

"Unfortunately, a former lover of Endymion's, a mage named Beryl, opposed the match. She summoned the entity known as Metallia and sent it and a considerable number of lesser constructs to kill her rival and anyone even peripherally associated with her on the night of Serenity's birthday celebration – the evening in which the engagement was to be publicly announced.

"From there, we get to the events of the more limited brief that we received earlier. Virtually the entire government and military high command was at the celebration, and were killed in the attack on the capital. Without any leadership, the defenses of the rest of the Moon Kingdom were disorganized and fell quickly, resulting in the entire society being wiped out literally overnight."

Everyone present winced. Yuuno's initial research had indicated that the war that destroyed the Moon Kingdom was been brief, but they hadn't expected it to have lasted just one day. Anything that render multiple planets completely uninhabitable overnight was a serious threat. Hopefully they would be able to deal with it before it was revived sufficiently to be able to fight back.

"So you're saying that this war was started because Nanoha stole some other girl's boyfriend in a previous life, and the other girl decided to set a trans-dimensional record for being a poor loser?" Hayate asked. If anyone had suggested such a thing to her before they had presented concrete proof that the war was actually happening, she would have automatically disregarded it as ridiculous. To the best of her knowledge, Nanoha had never so much as considered getting a boyfriend (or girlfriend, for that matter) in her entire life. The thought of her pinching someone else's boyfriend was so out of character that Hayate just couldn't see it. Hayate doubted that her friend had the slightest notion of how to go boy-hunting even if she was inclined to do so. Looking at Nanoha's totally perplexed expression, Hayate realized that Nanoha found the actions of her past life just as confusing as she did.

"Ano…" Nanoha said, "Is this Endymion person still around?"

"He was the gentleman who showed up in the tuxedo." Yuuno replied.

Nanoha remembered the man in question. He was the man who she had briefly spoken to shortly after arriving in Tokyo – the one that a part of her was delighted to see for no apparent reason. Was the reason she had been so happy to see him that they had been lovers in another life? Was he the man she had danced with in that dream? The man who died in her arms after taking a blow meant for her?

More and more, it seemed like her life was being shaped by the actions of the person she was in a previous life – a person who from what little she could remember was totally different from the person she was in her current life. Things would be a lot simpler for her if Serenity had been able to take care of her own problems and left Nanoha in peace.

* * *

Luna was not happy with how her sole meeting with the princess had gone. Even though the princess had been found and had apparently started awakening to her powers years before, she obviously had not awakened to her memories.

The idea of calling in outside help to assist in the war against the Dark Kingdom was something Luna could understand, but the manner in which the princess had done so was wholly inappropriate. She should have called for aid as the leader of a nation speaking to the leaders of another nation. Instead, the princess had acted as a junior officer requesting reinforcements, an act which involved deferring command of the Senshi – and herself – to someone with no connection to the Moon Kingdom. It was one thing for a ruler to bring in allies, but surrendering her authority to those allies the moment they arrived was unacceptable! That action could very well lead to the TSAB absorbing the Moon Kingdom by the time the war ended.

Luna knew that she had seriously miscalculated in the matter of the princess's companion. The princess would have been well within her rights to sentence the Senshi involved in trying to kill her friend in front of her to banishment or worse. Instead, they had simply been required to fulfill their duties as Senshi until the Dark Kingdom had been defeated, something they didn't need a royal command to do. Of course, that was another problem. The punishment hadn't been handed down as a royal command. It had been handed down as an act of military justice – from the military of a foreign nation.

And that was the ultimate problem. The princess didn't think of herself as the heir to the Moon Kingdom. She thought of herself as a junior officer of a foreign power. There had been many examples in the history of the Moon Kingdom of members of the nobility serving in the military – even in the royal family. But never before had a noble of the Moon Kingdom enlisted in the military of another nation. There were precedents on how to balance the responsibilities of an officer with the responsibilities of a noble when one served the same nation in either case. Balancing those responsibilities when this was not the case was a totally different matter – especially given the fact that Luna had no idea as to whether the TSAB would be allies or enemies in the long run.

If the Moon Kingdom was to be revived, the princess needed to acknowledge her birthright. Luna needed guide the princess so that would happen. Unfortunately, given how badly her first decision regarding the princess had gone, it was quite likely that her guidance would be disregarded. The princess currently considered the ferret to be her primary advisor at the moment, not Luna. Luna would have to gain the princess's trust, something that the princess would be justified in not offering to the moon cat at the moment. She would have to plan her actions carefully.

* * *

The Senshi gathered at the park for their first lesson from their princess (Kamen was on patrol, and would undergo his first session later). Most of them were still trying to wrap their minds around the concept that the princess was more interested in training them than leading them. Still, the fact that their princess had apparently earned herself a reputation as the finest combat instructor that their unexpected allies had to offer was a pleasing thought. Not only did it present the Moon Kingdom itself in a positive light, it also meant that they had a good chance of becoming strong enough to deal with the Dark Kingdom once and for all soon.

As the barrier that hid the Senshi and their teachers from the outside world came up, the princess started handing out large sacks to her assistants. Reaching into the bag she had kept for herself, she pulled out four rubber balls, each a different color.

"The first problem I noticed when I observed the exercise you had gone through earlier is that you need work in keeping track of the battlefield." The princess began. "This exercise is going to make you work on that."

"With rubber balls?" Mercury asked.

"My colleagues and I are going to start throwing these around. You are going to try to hit them before they hit the ground. Each of you is to only attack balls of a specific color – red for Mars, blue for Mercury, green for Jupiter, and orange for Venus. If you miss a ball, or hit the wrong ball, you get a penalty."

"What's the penalty?" Mars inquired.

"An attack spell. Don't worry, they'll be powered down enough that you won't be injured. Feel free to try to dodge them – but if one of your teammates is hit by a penalty meant for you, it will mean extra penalties."

The training was brutal. The people throwing the balls did so slow enough that the Senshi would have time to cast a spell at them, but that was the only concession they were given. After the first few throws the balls started coming in from angles that barely passed through the peripheral vision of the ones who were supposed to shoot them, if not completely outside of their vision arc. Failing to realize that there were targets to shoot, the Senshi started missing. Then came the penalty shots.

The penalty shots might have been reduced in power to avoid injury, but they were still powerful enough to be extremely painful. They also had the nasty habit of turning around and coming back for another pass if the victim managed to dodge the first one. And it quickly became apparent that the number of extra penalties exacted for letting a teammate get hit by a penalty not meant for her was slowly increasing. Within five minutes they were looking around constantly, trying to locate the next target or attack. After ten minutes, they were too busy trying to dodge to even try to hit anything, which caused even more attacks to come. Fifteen minutes after the first ball was thrown, the exercise stopped, with all of the Senshi feeling very sorry for themselves.

"Okay, take a break." The princess said. Her four students collapsed on the ground, panting for breath.

"Are… all your training lessons… this hard?" Jupiter gasped.

"The harder the training, the easier the real battles become. I'm just trying to make sure you're prepared for anything."

While that was a good idea in theory, the Senshi were less than enthusiastic about going through it in practice. Especially since it was quite likely that the princess would have them go through that exercise again once she replaced the balls that they had managed to hit (Said balls having either melted or frozen solid and shattered).

One thing was certain. The princess would not be satisfied with her Senshi until they truly were the elite unit they were supposed to be.

* * *

After the Senshi had caught their breath, they were broken up to train under individuals with similar magical affinities to their own. Jupiter was sent to train under Fate. Mercury was training under Rein. Mars was assigned to Signum. Venus, whose affinity did not align with any of their teachers, was instructed by the princess. Strangely, the lessons did not involve learning any magic. They were instead centered around learning how to increase the utility of the magic they already had.

After the lesson, Mercury inquired about that.

"How are you girls at math?" Yuuno responded.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mercury wondered, puzzled at the non sequitur.

"There's a high correlation between the formulas used in the magic circles associated with Mid-Childan magic and advanced math equations. If you can't keep up with the computations, there's a good chance that you won't be able to control the spell. Fate was good enough that she was tutoring high school students in math when she was nine, with Nanoha not much behind her. That's part of the reason why they're so talented."

Most of the Senshi, who had a hard enough time keeping up with their assigned course load without trying to get seven years ahead of the syllabus, winced. Mercury was intrigued. She had always taken pride in her scholarship, and the only thing that triggered a competitive response in her was the though of someone getting ahead of her in the class rankings. She had put a lot of effort into reaching her place at the top of the national school rankings, especially given the additional demands placed on her time by her Senshi duties. The thought of a magic school that required advanced math skills to use seemed to be a perfect combination of her duties and her academic drive.

"I might be interested in learning some Mid-Childan magic." She said.

"Are there any schools of magic that don't require you to be a genius to learn?" Venus asked.

"There are eight hundred ninety one known schools of magic. Eight hundred ninety two, if you count the Neo Belkan school as its own style rather than just a mix of Ancient Belkan and Mid-Childan magic. However, most of them are fairly obscure. We only have practitioners of two schools here. Hayate and the Wolkenritter all use the Ancient Belkan style, while the rest of us use Mid-Childan magic. It's entirely possible that the school of magic practiced by the Moon Kingdom is among the known styles. I've already sent a request back to the Infinite Library to see if we have any information on the magic you're already using."

The Senshi looked at each other. They hadn't expected their princess's (sometimes) animal companion to be a scholar. After all, the ones they had ended up with were primarily courtiers. Mercury looked speculatively at the young man.

* * *

Precia looked around her laboratory. She had finally finished furnishing her newly acquired home so that it was properly equipped for the work she would need to do in order to revive her daughter and to provide a home for Alicia once she finally awakened. It was time to start on acquiring the energy that she needed to heal Alicia.

From checking the local newspapers, it appeared that she had been trapped in the void between dimensions for seven years after her failed attempt to reach Al-Hazard. Not that it mattered. The only person from Mid-Childa she had had any non-trivial association with after Alicia was injured in the accident was Jail Scaglietti, and she hadn't spoken to him since it became clear that Project Fate had been a failure. The only person she had any interest in staying in touch with was Alicia, and as far as Precia was concerned, so long as Alicia woke up soon, the calendar date of that awakening was irrelevant.

The other thing she saw of note in the papers was the story about the mage battle in Unimari. From the article, she saw that the reason her captor lost control of her leash was because he had been killed by the very mages who had prevented her from reaching Al-Hazard seven years before. At long last, her failed creation had managed to be of use to her mother, even if the clone would never know of it.

These 'Sailor Senshi' would be a problem, however. They were obviously a long-term threat against the energy-gathering operations performed by her former captors, and could very well end up trying to do the same to Precia's own, once she had decided where to launch said operations. She didn't have anything against these new mages – in fact, if they wanted to continue to inconvenience Beryl and her ilk, they were welcome to do so – but she could not permit anything to interfere with her quest to revive Alicia. If that meant that she had to eliminate a few meddling outsiders who insisted on hindering her efforts, so be it.

Precia examined the neighborhood she had moved into, looking for places where a significant number of people would likely gather, so as to provide a large return on a few operations, with a good lookout point to ensure that she could spot anyone trying to interfere with the energy-gathering operation in time to secure the gathered energy from any 'rescue'.

As she stood at one prospective location, taking notes that would help her decide whether or not to use this place as a target later, she heard a voice address her.

"So there you are, Precia. I've been looking for you."

* * *

Zoicite's mission to track down the escaped mage had been more difficult than he originally thought. Tracking down the collar had been easy enough. It took him less than half an hour to find the gutter that it had been discarded in. Since Zoicite had never made any attempt to learn divination magic and refused to ask Nephrite for help on general principle (and the fact that the last Dark General to base an operation off of his advice ended up dead), he had been forced to tracking the woman down through more primitive means.

Fortunately, he didn't have to do all the legwork himself. He had been able to locate some youma who had seen the escapee often enough to be able to recognize her, and delegated that task to them. It had taken some doing to get them to understand that they weren't supposed to be gathering life energy or do anything else that would draw attention to themselves while they were out (the typical youma not being all that intelligent), but he had eventually gotten his point across.

If Precia had been on her own, tracking her down might have been impossible. But she had escaped with her incapacitated daughter, which limited the distance she could run. There was no real way to easily transport a tube eight feet high and four feet in diameter, and given that the tube was transparent and had a naked girl suspended in it, it would be noticed by anyone who saw it. That meant that she couldn't have fled very far without drawing a great deal of attention to herself, reducing the search area significantly.

Given how large and densely populated Tokyo was, Zoicite thought it likely that tracking Precia down could take weeks, even with the reduced search area stemming from the fact that she couldn't have moved her daughter too far without leaving an obvious trail that he hadn't found. But he knew how impatient his queen could get. She wanted results and quickly, especially after Nephrite's prolonged search for the Moon Princess ended up leading Jadeite into a trap that killed him.

Because of this, he was pleasantly surprised when he was informed that Precia had been spotted a little over a week after her escape. Making his way to the location his youma had specified, he found her writing something down on a notepad.

"So there you are, Precia. I've been looking for you." He announced as he approached, "I believe you have something that my queen wants."

The look in Precia's eyes as she looked up to him was that of a cornered animal. He knew enough about animals to realize that even a timid creature would attack a predator if there was no place to run. It looked like she wasn't planning to cooperate. No matter. He just needed to make certain that he didn't kill her until _after_ she had either produced or revealed the location of the crystals.

* * *

While Precia didn't remember the name of the man approaching her, she recognized him. He was one of the colleagues of Jadeite. The Dark Kingdom had managed to find her. When he mentioned that she had something he wanted, she immediately knew what he wanted. He was after Alicia.

Precia didn't know what the Dark Kingdom wanted with her daughter, and she didn't care, either. She had broken enough laws to get her imprisoned for life several times over in her quest to revive Alicia, ensuring that she would never be welcome on her home planet ever again. She was not going to let anyone take her child away from her, not now, not when she had finally discovered the cure she had been searching for all of these years!

Precia activated her Device and raised her staff as it formed in her hand.

* * *

The burst of lightning that erupted from the woman's staff was far stronger than anything that Sailor Jupiter had launched at him. Had the attack taken him by surprise, Zoicite could have been seriously hurt. As it was, the spell crackled against his defenses with surprising force.

Spells launched back and forth between the two. Zoicite could tell that his target had yet to fully recover from whatever it was had happened to cause her to enter the Dark Kingdom in the first place, but he was hindered by the fact that he needed her alive, at least in the short term. Precia was not operating under any such constraint. In a brute force slugging match, the fight could very well end up taking a while, making it likely that the Senshi would realize that there was a battle going on and interfere.

Fortunately, he didn't have to fight fair. The youma that had spotted Precia was still in the area, and Zoicite saw no reason why it couldn't help to incapacitate her. It didn't take much work to press Precia constantly from a single direction, forcing her to keep his attention on him while the youma flanked her.

The simple plan worked perfectly. Precia was too focused on her desperate battle against Zoicite to realize that she'd been outmaneuvered. The attack took her completely by surprise, knocking Precia to her knees.

Zoicite walked towards the woman, kicking the staff she had dropped out of her reach. Now that Precia had been subdued, he could interrogate her about the crystals she had used to escape the Dark Kingdom. But before he could start asking questions, a strange ripple passed through the landscape, somehow changing the color of everything in the area that it passed through slightly.

Zoicite wasn't sure what had caused this, but it couldn't have been natural. Some third party had entered into the battle. This conclusion was supported by a challenge he had never heard before.

* * *

It was Sailor Mars' first patrol since she had started training under the princess. Normally she would be patrolling alone, but the princess had made it clear that after the incident with Fate, she could not trust her or Jupiter's judgment. Because of this, they would be patrolling alongside some of the TSAB personnel the princess had called in for the foreseeable future. Mars didn't like it, but she had to grudgingly concede that if their circumstances had been reversed, she wouldn't be inclined to trust someone who had tried to jump a close friend either.

The Senshi were still adjusting to the TSAB's entrance. After months of being told they were an elite unit by the Moon Cats, finding that their princess looked at them as untrained civilian volunteers was a bit unsettling. Still, the Senshi as a whole were trying to make the best of it. Venus and Jupiter had been looking over the male members of the task force, trying to see if any of them were dateable material (Boys who could understand the risks and sudden schedule conflicts caused by magical girl work being short supply). Mercury was definitely interested in the ferret cum archeology professor. And while none of them had _enjoyed_ the training the princess had come up with, it was the first time they'd had instruction beyond 'try to remember a spell learned millennia ago, throw in general direction of opponent, hope it works'.

Mars' musings were interrupted by a crack of thunder. That was odd. There wasn't supposed to be a thunderstorm that night. In fact, looking up, Mars saw that there weren't any clouds at all. If there was no storm to produce lightning, where did the thunder come from?

The same question had apparently occurred to the leader of the group of mages she was with. He had made a couple short communications, and then turned to the rest of the group.

"If there wasn't any natural lightning, then the thunder must have been caused by magic. Enforcer Harlaown and Sailor Jupiter just confirmed it wasn't them, and they're the only people we have with an electrical affinity. It could have been the result of Dark Kingdom activity. Let's move out." He said.

The group dashed across the rooftops in the direction of the thunder. As they began their run, the thunder repeated, and then repeated again. The thunderclaps continued, always coming from the same direction. Whatever was causing it, it couldn't possibly be natural. Reaching the source of the noise, they found a wrecked street, with a youma and a familiar enemy confronting a woman, who had collapsed to the ground.

"Zoicite." Rei whispered.

"You know one of those people?" The team leader asked.

"The man is Zoicite. He's one of the Generals of the Dark Kingdom."

The leader opened up a communication window. "This is Corporal Netia. We have found a Dark Kingdom attack led by one of their senior leaders in progress. Requesting reinforcements."

"Acknowledged, Corporal." Rein's voice responded. "Some of the Wolkenritter are en route. Set up a barrier and try to keep the enemy in it until help arrives."

"Understood." Netia turned to one of the other men. "Private Benaris, set up the barrier."

Moments later, the area was displaced from conventional reality. But something was wrong. Every time that Mars had seen one of these barriers come up before, everyone not connected to the TSAB or the Senshi vanished, left behind outside the barrier. This time, others were brought along: Zoicite, the youma, and the victim. While Mars could understand why Zoicite and the youma were brought along – containing them in the barrier was the reason it was brought up in the first place – why had the woman entered the barrier as well?

"Is she supposed to still be here?" Mars asked.

"No, she isn't." Netia answered, "We have to get the civilian clear. Benaris, stay here and maintain the barrier. Everyone else, let's keep General Zoicite occupied until the Wolkenritter get here.

"This is the Time-Space Administration Bureau." He announced. "Disarm yourselves and step away from the civilian. If you come quietly you will be permitted to testify in your own defense."

* * *

Zoicite had never heard of the Time-Space Administration Bureau before, but it was obvious that they were his enemies. This conclusion was reinforced when he noticed that Sailor Mars was with them. So the Senshi had found allies, had they? His queen would find that information interesting. Of course, unless some measure of success against this new enemy, Beryl might not take the information well, important or not.

The various attack spells that the newcomers sent at him were inconsequential. They didn't have nearly enough power to breach his defenses, even after the battering they had taken from the slugging match with Precia. The binding spells were a severe nuisance. He could break out of them easily enough, but in order to do so he had to divert his attention away from his efforts to swat the annoying insects attacking him. If they were a little closer in, he was certain he could crush them. As it was, they made a point of staying far enough away that they could dodge the worst of his attacks. Still, even if they refused to stay still and die, they were still taking far more punishment than he was at the moment. He could afford to expend the effort to whittle them down.

As he fought the newcomers, he noticed Sailor Mars destroy his youma. Then things got out of control.

* * *

The fear that Precia felt when she realized that the Dark Kingdom had tracked her down and was after Alicia magnified a hundredfold when she realized that the TSAB had found her. Even after seven years, they were still looking for her over the matter with the Jewel Seeds. She would have thought that they'd have given her up for dead, given the manner in which she had escaped from them the last time. She had never even heard of someone using the escape method she had inadvertently taken and surviving to speak of it before she did.

But somehow, they knew she had survived, and had continued looking for her this entire time. And now they had found her. If she allowed them to arrest her, they would track down where she had stored Alicia. Given that Alicia had been legally dead since the reactor accident twenty-five years earlier, they would take her little girl out of the stasis tube that was the only thing keeping her alive, and bury her. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let them kill her baby. Not now, not when she was finally on the cusp of the breakthrough she needed to save her!

The youma that had injured her had been drawn away by the fight. With all of her enemies distracted fighting each other, Precia crawled to where her staff had rolled. As she grasped it, she was approached by a mage in a barrier jacket different than that worn by the other TSAB mages, one of the style worn by the kind of mage the newspapers called "Senshi".

"Come on," The Senshi said, "Let's get you out of here."

Precia swung her staff at the girl. " _NO! I won't let you take her from me!"_ she screamed.

The Senshi managed to block the blow, catching the staff in one hand. As the Senshi moved to disarm her, Precia made a follow-up move. "Photon Bullet."

The point blank attack launched the Senshi straight through a wall. Precia turned her attention to the others inside the barrier. "Thunder Rage."

The burst of lightning knocked all of her enemies to their knees, even Zoicite, who had been focusing on freeing himself from another set of binding spells and hadn't expected another high-level attack. Upon seeing her adversaries humbled, a thought occurred to her. She needed life energy to save Alicia. Why not take it from those who were trying to stop her from saving her daughter?

"You thought to take my daughter from me? You shall be the very means by which I will cure her!" She gloated as she cast the energy-draining spell. Power was rapidly siphoned from the fallen mages and gathered in her hand, far more than the mere sliver of energy she had stolen to test the possibility of using stolen life to save Alicia. Precia drew even more power out. She didn't know how much power would be needed in order to awaken her daughter, so she would take as much as she could. If the process happened to kill those who were trying to see Alicia dead, then so be it.

Her energy gathering was interrupted by a gout of flame. The girl she had knocked through a wall had gotten back up again, and was ready to fight. Precia turned her attention to her new opponent, when her lungs suddenly ceased to function properly. Precia struggled to keep her defenses up as she bent over coughing, fighting to clear her lungs so that she could breathe again. Of all the times for her lung condition to act up, it had to be now!

She couldn't keep fighting. She had to get clear, and see if she had gathered enough energy to save Alicia. Levitating to the rooftop level, she saw what she had expected. The TSAB mages she had seen were hardly elites. The mage who created the barrier wasn't up to doing much more than keeping the barrier up which his teammates did all the work. Once she was at an angle where she could fire upon the mage maintaining the barrier, Precia knocked him out with a Photon Bullet. The barrier collapsed. Lowering herself down to the ground, Precia began to flee. Another burst of flame came after her, penetrating her weakened barriers and burning her.

"You're not getting away that easily." The Senshi declared. Precia responded with another Photon Bullet. This one smashed into the building behind the Senshi, causing the wall to collapse on top of her. With her last enemy incapacitated, Precia started staggering home, desperate to get away before any other TSAB mages showed up. She wasn't up for another fight this night.

The wounds she had taken were treatable – she had studied quite a few healing spells during her early research into curing Alicia. But the most important thing was that she had acquired a significant amount of energy. Perhaps this would be enough. Perhaps she would be able to see her beloved daughter smile at her again for the first time in far too long.

* * *

Zoicite had teleported away from the battle the moment the barrier dissipated. He had lost that fight, and knew it. The TSAB agents, while fairly weak in and of themselves, had distracted him to the point where Precia had been able to get a shot past his guard. And he had been right – it had been quite painful. If the Moon Princess was of comparable strength, then it wasn't surprising that she had been able to take out Jadeite while he was focused on defeating Sailor Venus.

But even with good reasons behind his defeat, Zoicite knew that he had gone into a battle where success could have granted the Dark Kingdom total victory in one stroke, and he had failed. The Queen would not be happy with him. Perhaps it would be for the best if he recovered from his injuries without returning home, and tried again later. A delayed report of success would anger Beryl far less than a prompt report of failure.

Nephrite stretched carefully, and was pleased to discover that he could now move freely without pain. The Queen's wrath over the loss of Jadeite had been truly terrible, and there had been points in it where Nephrite had been worried that he would not survive it. It wasn't even his fault. All he had promised was that there was a good chance that the Moon Princess could come to harm at that time and place. His prediction had been perfectly accurate: she had apparently needed hospitalization after the battle. But Beryl had expected more, and since Jadeite was beyond punishment, she had taken her anger out on him.

Still, the incident in which Jadeite died had provided some useful intelligence. He now knew the Moon Princess's name, along with her home address, and family business. Perhaps it was time for him to revive his old persona of "Masato Sanjonin". He could use that alias to become acquainted with the princess's kin, and from there hopefully get in position to strike. That would be far simpler than the brute force attack that Jadeite had come up with.

* * *

Vita and Signum arrived at the scene of the battle to find their enemies gone, and their comrades prying themselves off the ground.

"What happened here? Where's the rest of your team? You seem to be down a man." Signum demanded of the corporal. Netia pointed out a heap of rubble. Vita dug through the rubble and pulled an unconscious Rei Hino from the debris.

"Let's get them back to base." Signum continued. "We can debrief them there." Vita nodded.

Once they had returned to their headquarters, Shamal started patching up the wounded while Corporal Netia gave his report as to what had happened.

"It was either a trap, or the person we tried to rescue considered us to be as great a threat as Zoicite was. Once she had gotten away from her original attackers and gotten her hands on some sort of staff, she attacked all of us. Once we were down, she used what I believe to be the energy-draining attack we were warned of against us." He reported.

"Interesting… Can you describe the woman who did this?" Hayate asked.

"No, but I think Sailor Mars could. She was closer to the unknown mage than I was."

"Shamal?"

"Give me another ten minutes to finish patching her up, and then you can wake her for questioning." The doctor answered.

A little over ten minutes later, Rei was describing the woman who had hit most of the team with lightning and then dropped a wall on her. As she described the woman, her image was slowly reconstructed on the computer screen in front of her. Eventually the image on the screen matched up to the face of the unknown woman and Rei sat back. As the various people in the room examined the image, Hayate noticed Yuuno stiffen.

"Do you recognize her, Yuuno?" Hayate asked.

"I think so, but we'd better double-check. Let me get Fate. She would know if this is the person I think it is."

A few minutes later, Fate and Aruf, both mildly annoyed about being pulled out of bed, entered the room. They both took one look at the image on the screen and froze.

"It can't be." Fate gasped.

"She died seven years ago." Aruf concurred.

"What? Who is it?" Rei asked.

"Doctor Precia Testarossa. My mother."

* * *

Alicia had had a very confusing day. She had been at home, alone. That had been a common occurrence. Her mother had been very busy at work, and had only gotten even busier over the past week. But that was alright. Mother had promised that today was her last day of work, and after that she could take a long vacation. Starting tonight, Mother wouldn't be leaving her again. They would go to an amusement park. Have a picnic. Enjoy themselves. Mother had promised.

Alicia had gone out on the balcony for some fresh air. Looking towards the place where Mother worked, she saw a pillar of light forming in the distance. The pillar then suddenly widened. There was pain, and then she blacked out. When she woke up, she was floating in a tube. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there.

Looking around, Alicia saw her mother watching her from outside the glass. Her mother had aged, her face more worn, her hair starting to grey, but Alicia would recognize her mother's smile anywhere. There was a clicking sound, and then the top of the tube opened up. Alicia floated to the surface of the liquid she had been suspended in, and was helped out of the tube by her mother. As Alicia wrapped a towel around herself, she looked at her mother.

"Mother? What happened?" She asked.

"You've been ill a very long time, Alicia. I'm glad to see you awake again." Her mother answered.

"I've been… ill?" Alicia couldn't remember being sick. Was this something that happened because of that strange pillar of light?

"Yes, but it's alright. You're better now. And I'm finished with my work. I won't have to leave you alone ever again."

Precia knelt down and embraced her daughter. At long last, the work that she had devoted half of her life to was complete.

* * *

Omake: Why they got off lightly

"I'm surprised you people are letting those girls off so lightly." Artemis commented.

"It's not surprising if you consider Nanoha's past." Yuuno replied. "Do you know how many of the people here introduced themselves to her with a seemingly unprovoked attack?"

"Uhhh…"

"Let's see, there was Fate, Aruf, Vita, Signum, Zafira, and Shamal. You might be able to count Hayate, though she actually met Nanoha shortly before the fight broke out, and was possessed by the Book of Darkness during the actual fighting."

"You're kidding." Luna gaped. That was virtually all of the people that the princess had introduced her Senshi to as allies.

"Nope. They all turned out to have sensible reasons behind the actions, and ultimately became friends after Nanoha finally got them to explain _why_ they were fighting. Of course, half the time Nanoha had to blow them up before she could get them to provide that explanation."

The two Moon Cats looked at each other. Their princess was a very strange girl.

* * *

A/N: Yes, Fate was a math tutor to high school students at age 9. One student, anyway – Miyuki. I think Ami is the only one of the Inners capable of reaching the level of academic achievement necessary to attempt Mid-Childan magic.

A part of why Nanoha was able to one-shot Jadeite was because he simply wasn't expecting the Pink Beam of Doom.

The exact condition that Precia is suffering from, which she probably caught from the fallout of her reactor exploding, is unspecified, but according to the movie, it does involve coughing up blood on occasion.

Alicia lives! You know, this is the second time I've resurrected a major character and passed off their time dead as an illness. Hopefully Alicia's second pass through life won't end up as tumultuous as Chloe's was.


	9. Family Matters

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or MGLN

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 8

Family Matters

Rei wasn't sure why Fate was so alarmed by the revelation that her mother was alive. If _her_ mother suddenly turned up alive after all these years, Rei would be delighted. Of course, her mother had been the parent that had always cared for her, while her father pretty much ignored her except on occasions when he felt that being seen to be a good father would be good for his public image. Perhaps Fate hadn't been on very good terms with her mother upon her apparent death.

"Fate, I know that you never liked talking about your early childhood, but I'm afraid that if your mother is among the forces arranged against us, we're going to need to know everything we can about her." Hayate said.

"We can start by sending a request for her file from headquarters." Yuuno pointed out. "Precia's criminal records were closed due to everyone believing that she had died while trying to avoid arrest. Once we report that she somehow survived, the records will be reopened."

"How serious were the charges against her?"

"Let's see… Illegal research, unauthorized possession of restricted materials, attempted destruction of TSAB property, resisting arrest – killing several TSAB agents in the process, attempting to create a major dimensional disturbance, inciting a minor to commit felonies, and child abuse."

"Mother wasn't…" Fate began.

"FATE!" Aruf interrupted, "I can't believe that you're still making excuses for that woman after all these years! She sent you out to do all her dirty work, and then had you _whipped_ when you failed to meet her impossible standards!"

Rei paled. And here she thought her father was a lousy parent. Even at his worst, he was merely neglectful, passing the responsibility of caring for his child onto her grandfather in favor of concentrating on his work. He had never done anything intentionally harmful to her.

Hayate gulped. "I knew that Fate's home life had been bad before she was adopted by Admiral Harlaown, but I didn't know it had been _that_ bad."

"I'm afraid it was." Yuuno confirmed. "I don't want to think what would have happened to Fate in the long run if it hadn't been for Nanoha."

If the Princess had rescued Fate from an abusive family, then Rei could certainly understand why Fate had been so fiercely determined to protect her friend from any perceived threats. It also meant that Luna's conclusion concerning Fate wasn't exactly wrong; it was just out of date.

"What is she likely to be after?"

"She's probably trying to achieve the same thing she's been working on for the past thirty-three years: Bringing my sister back from the dead." Fate commented.

"That must be why she was draining energy from our agents. She must think that life energy can be used to achieve her goal."

"That would explain why she was fighting Zoicite." Rei added. "Beryl needs life energy to revive Metallia. Precia wants life energy to achieve her own goals. I guess Beryl didn't want competition."

"That's possible." Fate conceded. "Now that I think about it, the drones that attacked Kyouya's wedding resembled those that Mother had at the Garden of Time."

"A temporary alliance or trade of knowledge?" Yuuno suggested. "The life-draining spell for the drone designs? And then falling apart later when they realized their goals were incompatible."

"Which at least means that we're not facing a unified front." Hayate said, who seemed glad to find a slim silver lining in the cloud that had just arisen. "We'll have to be on the lookout for her from now on. If she's really as desperate as Corporal Netia described her as sounding, she's going to be looking for more targets.

"In any case, I don't think either faction is going to be acting openly again tonight. You might as well go home, Hino-san."

Rei could agree with that. It was getting late, and she had school in the morning. She turned to leave.

"Oh, and Hino-san?" Hayate continued. Rei paused and turned around. "If Dr Testarossa had killed before; it's likely she would have done so again if you hadn't kept her busy until she needed to flee. Good work."

Rei nodded her acknowledgement and headed home. She smiled as she made her way through the nighttime streets. She had finally begun to redeem herself after her nearly disastrous actions in that alley.

* * *

Precia opened her eyes. She could feel the weight of Alicia's body lying against her own, feel the warmth of her daughter's body and the movement as she stirred in her sleep. She wrapped an arm around Alicia's sleeping form, basking in the sensation of being able to hold her child for the first time in decades. She might not have much time left to live, but she still planned to do everything she could to make up for the weeks she had been forced to neglect her daughter in favor of completing her work. Even the chance to do something as simple as watch her child sleep was too precious to waste.

Alicia woke up. "Good morning, mother." She said.

Precia smiled back. "Good morning, Alicia. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, mother."

"That's good. You've been ill for so long, I was worried that you hadn't fully recovered. We do have a lot to do today, after all."

They did indeed have a great deal of things to do. All of Alicia's belongings had been destroyed with their old home in the reactor explosion twenty-five years before. That included her entire wardrobe. Some of Fate's things would have fit, but even if they hadn't been lost with the destruction of the Garden of Time, Precia wouldn't have insulted her daughter with hand-me-downs from a flawed imitation. At the moment, Alicia had only one outfit, which Precia had acquired while setting up her lab. She would need to go shopping for more.

That wasn't the only thing she needed to get for Alicia. She also needed to get furniture, books, toys, and all sort s of other odds and ends to convert the place she had been living in from a laboratory into a home she felt comfortable raising her child in. Fortunately, with all of the money that she had stolen from the Dark Kingdom, paying for all of that was a trivial exercise.

The following week was the happiest that Precia had had in decades. She no longer needed to spend time away from her child, working absurdly late hours in order to meet arbitrarily chosen artificial deadlines set by foolish superiors more interested in stock prices than in getting a job done properly. She no longer needed to search out unlikely cures or potentially dangerous methods of reaching places where such cures could be found. Precia had her daughter back, she could spend all the time she wanted with her, and she couldn't think of how her life could be more perfect.

Unfortunately, Precia's idyllic retirement didn't last. Roughly a week after Alicia's revival, Precia had taken Alicia to an amusement park. The trip had been enjoyable. Even if they didn't have access to the tech base of Mid-Childa, the owners of the park still knew how to put a smile on a child's face. And so long as Alicia was happy, the fact that the two of them were effectively exiled to a primitive planet without magic wasn't important.

Precia had been in the bathroom washing up when it happened. She felt pressure in her lungs, and she fell to her knees, coughing, desperately struggling to catch her breath. After what seemed to be an eternity, she was able to breathe freely again. Glancing at her hands, she saw that they were splattered with blood.

She had managed to cure the harm that had come to Alicia from the reactor accident, but she had not been able to do the same for herself. Her magic had shielded her from the immediate effects of the explosion, but the radiation she had absorbed that day had remained inside her ever since, slowly poisoning her. As Precia climbed to her feet, she was forced to face a horrible truth: she would not live to see her daughter become a grown woman. Sooner or later, she would need to find someone who could care for her child once she was no longer able to.

But who could Precia trust such a task to? She didn't know anyone on this planet. Most of her bridges on Mid-Childa had been burned years before. Even with the few people there that she might consider for such an important duty, she had no idea if the methods she used to contact them would still work after so many years. She certainly didn't have the means to travel to a planet as distant as Mid-Childa to look for them without some sort of transport, which she didn't have.

Precia tried to think about a solution to this problem as she washed the blood off her hands and mouth. The last thing she wanted was to worry Alicia about this. As she finished, she heard Alicia call out to her.

"Mother? There's someone here to see you."

Someone wanted to see her? That was odd. Precia had barely met her neighbors, and didn't know anyone else in the city at all as far as she knew. Had the TSAB found her? She didn't think that was likely. She had set up warding spells to prevent any detection spells from scrying out her location. Precia made certain that her deactivated Device was at hand while she headed to the door.

The man at the door wasn't with the TSAB. He appeared to be from the local police force. Precia wasn't sure why he was there. She hadn't done anything to the people of this planet – since draining the TSAB agents had provided her with all the energy she needed to save Alicia, she hadn't needed to.

"Testarossa-san?" The man asked.

"Yes?"

"It's come to the attention of the Tokyo Police Department that you have a young child under your care who is not currently attending any known school. I am here to remind you of the truancy laws. The state requires that all children receive a basic education."

Precia let out a mental sigh of relief. _That_ was all this was about? After years of trying to revive her daughter, the fact that Alicia was getting to the age where she'd have to go to school had slipped her mind.

"I'm sorry, officer. My daughter and I have just moved to this area and I haven't had the opportunity to look at the local schools yet. I'll be taking care of that shortly."

"See that you do." With that, the officer left.

Precia was forced to admit that the officer had a point. Alicia did need to get an education, and learn to interact with people her age. Precia might even find someone who could take care of Alicia once she was gone among the parents of Alicia's friends. This primitive planet wouldn't be able to teach Alicia how to use magic, but Precia could handle that herself. She resolved to start looking for a good school for Alicia in the morning.

* * *

Work at the Midori-ya had been hectic. Part of that had been due to the fact that with Kyouya on his honeymoon and Shiro unable to use one arm, they were short-handed. The rest of it was due to the unexpected publicity they had received due to the incident at the wedding. The Takamachi family had been the victims of the first confirmed monster attack after months of rumors of such things happening, had actually managed to hold the monsters off until the Sailor Senshi (in their first confirmed appearance) arrived, and to top it off, a member of the family was the magical girl who took out the person responsible for the attack.

The Takamachi family was now famous, and as a result of this business at their small coffee shop was booming. Far too many people were curious about the family of a real magical girl and came by in the hopes of seeing something magical or hearing stories of Nanoha's adventures. Miyuki was finding herself glad that they had finally managed to repair the hole Nanoha had put in the fence – she had been getting worried that the especially curious would try sneak in for a look at the home of an apparent superhero.

Miyuki didn't care for the source of the attention. She was a skilled fighter, but she had learned the sword because of family tradition, not out of any love of combat. On the rare occasion that she did more with a sword than training exercises, it was because circumstances had forced her to do so. She would be perfectly content if she never had to draw her blade in anger ever again. She had actually been relieved when she and Kyouya managed to avoid any long-term public recognition for their role in preventing the kidnapping attempt on Fiasse during her charity concert tour seven years previously. She hadn't been able to escape that for fighting off a horde of monsters at the family wedding.

She wasn't sure which annoyed her more: the otaku or the reporters. The reporters tended to have more intelligent questions, but they were also a lot harder to get rid of. Both groups showed up often enough to make it hard for regular customers to find a table on occasion. This Dark Kingdom group that had crashed Kyouya's wedding was something that Miyuki wouldn't object to fighting at all. Not only had they ruined her brother's wedding and her sisters convalescence leave, they had also ensured that she wouldn't have any time to spend with her sister on Nanoha's first visit home since she left school.

A table that Miyuki had cleaned up a bare two minutes before had a new customer in it, a foreigner with red hair. He wasn't a regular, but his outfit looked far too expensive for him to be a reporter, much less the typical otaku. It didn't take him long to flip through the menu, decide on an order, and set it down.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes. I'd like a medium cappuccino and a cream puff." He responded. Miyuki wrote his order down, and then turned back to the kitchen. It didn't take long for the order to be filled. As she returned with the order, Miyuki found herself accosted by yet another young girl who was under the impression that she could become a magical girl under the tutelage of an existing magical girl, and wanted Miyuki to pass on her application.

"Why can't those girls take a hint? That's the third one today." She grumbled under her breath as she returned to the customer's table.

"A common problem?" The customer inquired.

"Far too common, lately. Ever since my sister's job became common knowledge, admirers and would-be students have been coming out of the woodwork. And that doesn't include the people who check to see if any of the animals living in the vicinity are secretly talking animal companions or something similar."

"What, you mean that you never had a talking kitten?" The man said teasingly.

"No, I've never seen any talking cats before, and I haven't spoken with the talking ferret since he got that librarian job years ago."

The man laughed. "I was only joking! You _really_ had a talking ferret?"

Miyuki nodded. "And two of my sister's friends have talking dogs. I doubt any of them would really care to meet any of the otaku. They take their work seriously. I don't know where those people are all coming from, but I wish they'd leave us in peace."

"I'd have thought you'd appreciate all the extra business."

"Oh, the business is nice, but not the baggage that came with it. They just don't understand at all. They think what happened was some kind of dramatic fight scene out of an anime. What I saw was my brother's wedding getting ruined by some guy we'd never even heard of before, and my little sister ending up in the hospital when she'd just gotten out of it a few weeks before. I've seen enough battles to know that fighting isn't a game, and I don't appreciate it when people treat it like one."

"I see your point."

The conversation might have gone on longer, but another table signaled that they were ready to order, and Miyuki had to return to work. Still, it was nice to have a sympathetic listener rather than the seemingly endless waves of otaku. By the time her work load slacked, the man had since left.

* * *

As Miyuki returned to her work, the man who was calling himself Masato Sanjouin considered how things had gone. He hadn't learned anything that seemed all that important, but he had managed to speak with the Moon Princess's sister without inspiring the fully justified irritation that that the numerous others who were looking for information on Jadeite's killer for their own reasons had roused. As a result, he considered the afternoon a success.

He had laid the initial groundwork. From here he could attempt to build trust and cultivate the girl into an actual intelligence source. With enough time, he could either gain the information he needed to destroy the Moon Princess and get into a position where he could strike. He just needed to be patient.

Another group of people entered the café. By the look of them, they were more magical girl otaku, unwittingly helping Nephrite's plans by establishing a contrast between them and the Dark General in the eyes of the Moon Princess's sister. Nephrite smiled as he turned his attention to the Midori-ya's excellent pastry.

* * *

It was Alicia's first day of school. The school that her mother had chosen to enroll her into, a place called Mugen Gakuen, was larger than she expected. As she was escorted to her classroom, she was told that this was because the school covered a much wider range of grades than most schools in the area did, and as a result needed to hold more students than the typical school. Upon reaching her classroom, Alicia was asked to introduce herself to her new classmates. As she wrote her name on the blackboard, she heard someone in the room whisper.

"What's with the fancy writing? Is the gaijin trying to show off?"

Looking at what she had written, Alicia couldn't see what that person was talking about. She hadn't made any attempt to make her writing look fancy. She had written her name out just as she had been taught.

That part became more clear as the classes began. The area that she and Mother were living in apparently used four different alphabets, one of which was a simpler version of the alphabet she was used to, and three which were totally unfamiliar to her. Having been taught to read in only a single alphabet, Alicia found the additional ones to be highly confusing.

Mathematics was easier. In fact, it was too easy. Compared to the equations that Alicia needed to solve in order to perform even the simple spells that she had learned, the lessons the class was going through were trivial. Mother had told her that mages were extremely rare on this planet, but that she would take care of her magic lessons herself. Did not having to learn magic make them not take math seriously?

In the breaks between classes, Alicia came to find that she had no idea of how to relate to the rest of her classmates. She had never even heard of most of the things they were talking about. Everyone else in the classroom had formed into their own cliques long before she had started going to Mugen Gakuen, leaving Alicia an outsider.

When the day ended, a sad Alicia wandered out of the school. School had not been a particularly enjoyable experience. She didn't really fit in with any of the other kids in her class. Being alone wasn't so bad when her life had consisted of just her and her mother, but it was much worse when she was surrounded by people who weren't alone.

As she made her way towards the main gate, Alicia saw two older students standing apart from the crowds leaving the building. What the girl was doing to the boy was something that Alicia hadn't expected to see, given what her mother had told her about the area.

The girl was casting a magic spell.

* * *

Hotaru Tomoe had had always been different from everyone else. Ever since the lab accident that killed her mother, a sizable portion of her body had been replaced with cybernetic parts that sustained her after the grievous injuries she had suffered in the same accident. She had to wear long skirts, high-collared long-sleeved shirts and gloves to keep people from noticing that she was almost as much machine as she was human.

Despite her efforts to appear normal, her health problems, combined with a strange ability she possessed, made her stand out. Since becoming fitted with cybernetic parts, she had found herself blacking out at irregular intervals. When she came to, she found herself somewhere else, often with one or more injured people in her immediate vicinity. Upon seeing them, Hotaru would immediately use her healing power to help them, but the people she healed always responded to her aid with hostility. It was almost as if they thought that she was the reason they had been injured in the first place.

Other children who heard of her abilities tended to react in the same way. Hotaru found herself ostracized at best and harassed at worst by her classmates. And even if the students were smart enough to realize that picking on the principal's daughter could get them in a lot of trouble, which just meant that they took extra precautions to ensure that they didn't get caught.

The story was repeating again today. She had blacked out shortly after classes let out, and now she found herself outside, standing in front of a boy who had a rather nasty cut on his arm. She healed the boy, until to be called a freak by the person she helped before he ran off, leaving Hotaru alone in front of the school. Well, not entirely alone. As Hotaru looked around she saw a girl several years younger than her with blonde hair and red eyes staring at her. She sighed as she waited for yet another person to reject her for trying to help. The girl's reaction was a pleasant surprise.

"I didn't know there were any other magi in the school. Mother said that most people in this area can't use magic."

Magic? Hotaru had heard the stories about the magical girls operating in the ward, especially since the incident where confirmation of their existence was posted on the news, but she had never considered the possibility that her healing powers meant that she was one of them. Wait a minute. The girl had said _other_ magi. Was she one as well? Was she… like her?

"Are… you?" Hotaru began.

In answer, a circle with a square centered in it appeared below the girl's feet, slowly rotating around her. As the diagram spun, an orb of blue light appeared in the girl's outstretched hand. The diagram faded, leaving the orb in the child's hand, until she closed her hand, causing the light to fade and vanish.

Hotaru smiled. For the first time in years, she had found someone who didn't consider her gift to be weird. Someone who might be the first real friend she'd ever had.

"I'm Hotaru Tomoe." She said.

"Alicia Testarossa." The other girl replied.

* * *

Luna stretched as she rose from the cushion and started to walk around. So far, the princess had spent most of her time since making contact with the Senshi either training the Senshi or resting as she recovered from the wounds she suffered fighting for a nation not her own. None of the princess's time had been spent in council with the moon cats.

That slight was galling to the Mau. She had been the queen's chief advisor, and the princess was ignoring her completely. She had instead appointed a ferret to advise her in Luna's place, without any warning. Every time she had tried to speak with the princess, the ferret was the one she ended up talking to, in either animal or human form. And he acted like an academic gathering data for his next paper, not the member of a royal court. The Moon Kingdom was the pinnacle of civilization in this system, not a topic for academic research! There was no way the princess would be able to restore her kingdom under the guidance of a man who considered its very existence to be an intellectual curiosity.

The Senshi were not of much use in this matter. They were all busy trying to meet the princess's incredibly high standards as mages. Luna would have considered those standards to be impossible were it not for the fact that all of the princess's companions insisted that she had held herself to an even higher standard since she was nine, and would be trying to retrain herself to that level were she not under constant observation from her doctor, who refused to let her over-exert herself yet again. Between their home lives (Which had already been severely curtailed as a result of their Senshi responsibilities), schoolwork, and their duties on the military side of the Moon Kingdom's affairs, they did not have time to help Luna with the political aspects. Mercury even appeared to be attracted to the young man who had usurped Luna's position.

Still, Luna had learned from her nearly disastrous mistakes. She had mistaken the undying loyalty of a victim rescued from darkness as the malicious intentions of one still in the service of evil, and it nearly cost the Senshi everything. She could not risk a direct confrontation with her rival. She had to prove her own worth before she could attempt to reclaim her position, and from there guide the princess to her destiny.

An idea occurred to her. The computers at the Command Center were linked to systems in the ruins of the royal palace on the moon. Those could be used to pinpoint the exact location of the palace sufficiently that they could travel there. The princess would be better able to remember her past life in a place that was central to that life. In the presence of things that would remind her of her life as Princess Serenity, she would recall where her true destiny lied and start acting like a princess rather than a minor agent of a foreign power.

It would be fairly easy to convince her rival to agree to this plan. Given his mindset, he would be eager to examine the ruins of the Moon Kingdom's capital. Other members of the TSAB would be interested in learning what Metallia could do if it was unleashed again. From there, Luna would be able to fulfill her duty to the queen and begin molding the princess into the queen she needed to become.

* * *

A/N: Hayate didn't know about the details of Fate's past because that case was closed before she met Fate, and the people who knew about it didn't want to remind Fate about it by bringing the topic up unnecessarily.

I'm choosing to believe that there are such things as anti-scrying spells out there. If there hadn't been, Nanoha could have used a Wide Area Search to find Vita's home address in As. Precia is using one to evade TSAB notice.

Yes, Japan has four different forms of writing, kanji, katakana, hiragana, and romanji (Which is the standard Latin alphabet). The Mid-Childan alphabet looks like a stylized form of romanji.

Alicia was born in a totally different society, and only had a week to acclimate to a (to her) sudden change in locale. Fate had six months of correspondence with Nanoha to help her learn about Japanese society before she had to seriously interact with it, and had Nanoha with her when she started actually doing so. Alicia has nobody capable of helping her with the culture shock.


	10. Aspernor Tui

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon  
By Bissek  
Chapter 9  
Aspernor Tui

Mamoru found himself in an unusual situation. He was on his first date, with a young woman who he was extremely familiar with and yet knew absolutely nothing about. Apart from the very brief meeting that had been interrupted by Fate, this was the first opportunity he had had to spend time with the reincarnated Princess Serenity for non-work related reasons. Most of the time he had spent with her so far had been spent with her giving tactical lectures or observing as Signum smacked him senseless with a shinai.

Because of that he barely knew Serenity in her current life, even though he remembered quite a bit about the girl she had been in her previous life. As a result of this, he found himself looking at Serenity's current incarnation and seeing her previous one. The fact that the illusion created by the disguise pen she was using to ensure that she was not recognized as one of the magical girls who had ended up on the front page of the newspaper made her look like her previous incarnation didn't help.

That confusion was the reason why the first part of the planned date didn't turn out so well. Mamoru had remembered that Serenity had loved the open fields of Earth, where trees and flowers could grow freely instead of being confined in the climate-controlled greenhouses of the Moon. So he took her to a park in a different ward, the flower beds there being the closest thing to free-growing plantlife he could find in Tokyo. Serenity was unimpressed. In her worldview, the purpose of a park was to have open space for those outdoor activities which required large amounts of open space.

And that was the problem. He ultimately didn't know _anything_ about Serenity's interests outside her work. From what her friends had said, it was entirely possible that she didn't have any. This was a problem, because he wasn't dedicated to the Senshi cause to the absolute exclusion of everything else anymore than the Senshi were. He had his own interests, his own hopes for the future once this war was over. He wanted to be a healer, not a warrior. He wanted a peaceful life with his beloved Serenity by his side. The second part of that was highly unlikely to come to pass if he couldn't find a way to relate to her.

Mamoru spent the afternoon trying to salvage the date. He wasn't particularly successful. Everything he remembered about the Serenity he knew and loved turned out to be totally useless in trying to connect to the Serenity he was dealing with now. As their time together came to a close, Mamoru was forced to concede that he had no idea as to how to advance his suit towards the princess.

* * *

Night fell over Tokyo. As most businesses closed down, two cats and a ferret made their way to the Crown Arcade.

"So you put your main base underneath an arcade?" Yuuno asked.

Luna nodded. "With so many other people in their age group spending their free time there, we figured that the Senshi could gather there regularly without anyone paying any notice to it."

Sneaking into the closed arcade, Luna led the three of them to the Sailor V machine and called out the command phrase that caused the console to move aside, revealing the secret passage to the command center.

"How do you get in during the day without drawing attention to yourselves?" Yuuno wondered as they headed down the stairs.

"We can't," Artemis admitted. "This is the only entrance, and any attempt to open it when someone else is in here would give the whole thing away. We really didn't think that part through."

"Funny how the game machine hiding the entrance to your base is based on one of your people."

"It's not a coincidence. I wrote the game as a training simulator for the Senshi. The hard part was getting copies into mass distribution without anyone wondering where the program came from. I was surprised when your friend managed to beat it on her first try."

"You wouldn't be if you knew Nanoha. When I first gave her Raising Heart, it took her less than two weeks to find the training mode, and she used it to run tactical simulations while she was at school continuously for months. Without once allowing her grades to slip or getting caught by the teachers."

Luna and Artemis exchanged a glance. "Why couldn't any of _our_ recruits have been that dedicated?"

"When I think of all the effort it took just to get the girls to agree to do their duty as Senshi in the first place…" Luna added.

"Nanoha was always a girl in search of a cause. That's why she stuck with being a mage even after the TSAB offered to take her first case off her hands and let her go back to being an ordinary girl." Yuuno admitted.

"A pity she didn't find the cause she was supposed to serve back then." Luna muttered under her breath.

The three arrived in the command center. Yuuno shifted back to his human form and started looking around.

"This equipment is all in very good condition. You said that this was all originally built by the Moon Kingdom?"

Artemis nodded. "And it's still linked to the parts of the network in the Moon Palace that survived the war."

"Impressive. So you think that we can use that link to recover the exact coordinates of the palace from here?"

"Hopefully."

"Well, let's get started."

* * *

It took some time to plan the lunar expedition after the coordinates were calculated. The list of who would be going had to be established. Patrol and training schedules had to be reworked to allow for those people to leave Tokyo without leaving a gap in the city's defenses. But after a few days, Yuuno was transported to the ruins of the Moon Palace, where he set up a barrier that established a breathable atmosphere for the rest of expedition (Nanoha, Signum, Mamoru, the Senshi, and the Moon Cats), which soon followed.

"I've never seen a site so perfectly preserved before." Yuuno said.

"Perfectly preserved? This place is in ruins." Rei pointed out.

"Exactly. Thanks to the vacuum of space, the palace is in exactly the same condition it was the night it was attacked. Nothing has been moved since the dust first settled. There has been no wind or rain to erode the debris, no bacteria to break down organic materials, nothing. Do you have any idea how many thousands of historic sites that were barely a fraction of the age of this place have been completely dismantled by later civilizations for free building materials? The bodies are even still wearing their jewelry. Most sites would be picked clean of any obvious valuables within a generation, and everything is still untouched after millennia."

Looking down at a desiccated corpse wearing a necklace that seemed extremely familiar, Makoto shuddered. "You just think that because you can't recognize any of the bodies from their effects."

"Uhh… I see your point."

The group entered into the palace, travelling slowly as Yuuno carefully recorded images of everything they passed into his device. As they journeyed into the ruins, Luna and Artemis described what the various parts of the palace they passed through had been before the attack, which Yuuno also carefully noted down. Occasionally one of the Senshi would relate a story in regards to a specific location they passed through as the familiar sight triggered a memory from their previous lives.

"This is the Grand Ballroom." Artemis said as they entered an area that had contained quite a lot of open space before the ceiling had collapsed. "All major celebrations, court dinners, and entertainments took place in this room. This is where most of the court was at the time Metallia attacked."

The group started looking around. Yuuno started examining a number of crushed implements in one corner of the room that had probably been musical instruments before they had been thrown to the ground and trampled on in the confusion of an unexpected battle.

Nanoha knelt on the floor and idly brushed away the dust. As she cleared a square of tiles, she froze in shock.

"What is it, Nanoha?" Yuuno asked.

"I've been here before."

* * *

Too many details from Nanoha's dreams turned out to have parallels to the events she had been facing to be coincidence. But for some reason, finding that a ballroom in an abandoned palace on the moon had the exact tiling pattern as the ballroom she had danced in during her recurring dream was what tipped the balance and made it impossible for her to deny that the Senshi's belief that she had been their princess in a previous life.

This was the room where she had danced with Endymion on the night she relived in her dreams. The room where a fairy tale happy ending abruptly turned into a nightmare, and ended with her ending her own life in despair. She recalled the evening in such detail that she honestly thought that she could repeat the dance from memory, despite having never taken dancing lessons in her life.

"There was a ball," She began. "I was dancing with a young man. As the dance ended, there was a crashing sound – someone brute-forcing a barrier spell from the outside. After that, youma started attacking. The man I was dancing with and I ran."

Nanoha climbed to her feet and started running. She didn't need to look where she was going. She retraced the steps she had taken in her dream, making her way to the room where she had fallen.

* * *

Minako knew intellectually that she might end up finding her body when she agreed to come up to the moon, but that hadn't prepared her for actually seeing it. The remains of the previous Sailor Venus were easily identified by the uniform she wore. Even if it hadn't, she remembered receiving the various minor wounds that her old body sported, along with the deep gouge in her side that nearly reached her spine. Strangely, the crystal sword she had wielded in that battle wasn't with her body.

Looking around the room, she soon found the sword – impaled in the princess's chest. Had Beryl's forces decided to add insult to injury in Venus's failure by using her own weapon to murder the girl she had failed to protect?

"I eventually found myself cornered in this room. Then a woman who looked sort of like Minako-chan arrived." Nanoha said, continuing her story.

"The Queen had ordered me to save the princess," Minako added, taking over the story. "She didn't expect to survive sealing Metallia, and needed me to secure the safety of her successor. I fought my way here, and was able to defeat the youma attacking the princess, but I was overpowered by Kunzite when he arrived."

"Beryl arrived shortly after that," Mamoru joined in. "She tried to kill Serenity, but I jumped into the path of the spell."

"And you both died for nothing." Nanoha concluded to a chorus of gasps.

"You shouldn't say such a thing, Your Highness!" Luna protested. "Sailor Venus and your betrothed sacrificed their lives to buy you time to escape. Just because they weren't able to buy you enough time doesn't mean that you should condemn them so!"

"They didn't buy the princess any time at all," Nanoha corrected, "Because Serenity didn't even _try_ to escape. Within moments of Endymion's death, she killed herself with Venus's sword. They died to protect a coward who dishonored their sacrifice by throwing her life away without sparing a thought for the people who depended on her. The only fault Venus had in this was in faithfully serving a child who did not deserve such loyalty."

There was an awkward silence as the others took in Nanoha's declaration. The harsh, blunt assessment of her previous life's actions on the night of her death was something they weren't expecting. And while it did Minako good to know that the Princess's current incarnation did not blame her for failing in her duty in a previous age, the _reason_ Minako was considered to not be to blame was rather unusual.

"There's no need to blame yourself, Serenity." Mamoru said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't call me that! That selfish, irresponsible, cowardly _child_ is not me! I'm Nanoha, not Serenity! Na. No. Ha!"

Before anyone could say anything further, Nanoha fled from the scene.

* * *

Nanoha didn't want to believe the evidence that had she had seen. Her dreams had been true in every detail, and the actions she had taken in them were even more inexcusable than she had thought. Not only had she spat on the efforts of two people who had willingly died to protect her by killing herself before their bodies were cold, she had done so when an entire nation, with millions, possibly billions of lives had been counting on her.

She had been the heir apparent to the throne, with the Queen almost certain to not live through the night. Her subjects had been counting on the Queen, whoever that Queen was, to lead her people through times of trouble, which that night most certainly was. And Serenity had ignored that responsibility in favor of giving in to her own despair. If Princess Serenity had taken up the responsibilities of the crown, would the Moon Kingdom have made it through the night? Would some of her people have survived long enough for the next ship from Al-Hazard to arrive and request a rescue effort? The universe would never know, because Serenity ignored her duty for her own selfish impulses.

To make things worse, everywhere she looked, she saw something that reminded her of an event from thousands of years in the past. The room she passed on her right was where she was regularly tutored by a rather boring teacher. The terrace up ahead was where she had hidden while setting up a practical joke on someone, though she couldn't recall who or why. She couldn't look anywhere without memories of a life that she considered a point of shame threatening to overwhelm her.

Nanoha's aimless wandering took her into what appeared to be the throne room. Stepping over the body of what looked like another Senshi of a previous era, Nanoha approached the dais. Lying in front of the throne lay the body of a woman who appeared to be the last Queen of the Moon Kingdom. Kneeling down in front of the woman who had placed her last hope for her people into the hands of a girl who failed that trust almost immediately, she touched the hand of the corpse.

As she touched the body, Nanoha felt the air stir. Knowing that wind did not occur naturally in a magically created atmosphere, she started looking around; wondering what had caused the change. It didn't take long to figure it out. Floating above the body was the image of a woman. From the identical outfit and jewelry she wore, the image appeared to be the Moon Queen as she appeared in life.

"My daughter." The Queen began.

* * *

The Senshi were in shock. For over a year they had thought of the Moon Princess as an idealized figure, who was simultaneously a sacred martyr to the principles of Love and Justice that the Moon Kingdom stood for and a beacon of hope that the Dark Kingdom could be defeated. The spectacularly low opinion that the Princess herself had formed of her previous self was rather unexpected. However, the very fact that she was willing to condemn her previous self for her shortcomings implied that she had no intention of repeating the same mistakes gave them hope for the future.

Deciding that properly laying out Serenity's body would not cause any further impact to the research that the archeologist was conducting over what seemed to be virtually every single thing in the palace than had already been done by the battle; Minako carefully pulled the sword out of her chest and lowered the body onto the ground. The sword felt extremely comfortable in her hand. The weapon she had borrowed during the fight at the wedding seemed too short, too light, and oddly balanced. The sword she now held in her hand was perfect. Stepping clear of the rest of the group, she began swinging the sword in a half-remembered practice pattern.

The pattern turned out to be incredibly clumsy. While she might have remembered the techniques she used in her previous life intellectually, she had not regained muscle memory alongside her mental memories. After an overbalanced swing sheared through a piece of rubble and nearly took her own foot off, Minako decided to put the weapon away before she injured someone by accident.

"You've used a sword before." Signum noted.

"In my previous life. This is only second time I've ever held one in this lifetime." Minako admitted.

"I think you could relearn fairly quickly. I could teach you if you'd like."

Since one of the memories of her past life that Minako recalled far too clearly for comfort was _exactly_ how much the wound that killed the previous Sailor Venus hurt, she agreed readily. Then Luna spoke up.

"Shouldn't we be going after the Princess?"

Privately, Minako felt that Nanoha was likely to bite the head off of anyone who reminded her of her connection to the late Princess Serenity at the moment. Still, it was a good idea. It wasn't even very hard to figure out where she went. With all the dust and debris that had fallen on the floor during the battle and then went undisturbed for eons, the only people who had left footprints were the very people who entered the castle earlier that day. All they had to do in order to find Nanoha was follow the only set of footprints leading away from the room they were in.

As they traced Nanoha's steps, they found more bodies. One of the bodies in a sizable pile of corpses wore the uniform of a Senshi. Rei knelt down in front of the body, noting the horrific gouges torn into its back.

"This was me." She gasped. "I was trying to get these people to safety. One of the youma disguised itself as a civilian and managed to get itself included in the group of refugees. It killed me from behind while I was trying to fight off a different group of youma."

The group advanced past the body of the previous Sailor Mars. A few corners later, they came across a narrow corridor that had… pieces of someone scattered about it. Makoto picked up a fragment of a skull wearing a tiara from under a forearm.

"I was guarding the corridor, buying time so that the Queen could get to the Ginzuisho and use it. The hallway was narrow enough that I could hold it by myself without anyone being able to get around me, but they just kept coming. It got to the point where I just couldn't kill enough of them with one spell to drive them back long enough to cast another. I was forced to fight them hand to hand, and they eventually swarmed me under and tore me to pieces."

Makoto shivered, remembering the agony she had been forced to suffer as the youma dismembered her. She glanced around, trying to find something in the corridor she could focus on that wasn't one of her body parts. She eventually decided to resolutely stare at the ceiling until she was away from her death site.

Further along, they found the throne room. Visible from the doorway was the remains of another Senshi. This one had a large part of her body blown away.

"I was keeping the Queen up to date with the status of the battle and relaying her orders out to the troops as she retrieved the Ginzuisho." Ami said. "The enemy broke in just as she was casting the spell to seal away Metallia. I threw myself in front of the Queen to buy her a few more seconds to finish the spell. I think I was the lucky one out of all of us. I died instantly." Thinking back on how they had fallen in their previous lives, the other Senshi were forced to agree with that rather grim assessment.

Directly behind Mercury's corpse was the throne room. Inside the group could see Nanoha, speaking to what looked like an image of the late Queen. The results of that conversation would further damage the Senshi's mental image of the world they lived in during their previous lives.

* * *

Nanoha blinked. The story that the Queen's spirit had told her had something wrong with it. She had to confirm that she had heard it straight.

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me that your sole heir was in the habit of walking away from her duties and sneaking not just out of your palace, but your _entire country_ , and making her way down to Earth, because she didn't like the _weather?_ "

The Queen nodded. "She longed to feel real wind upon her skin and stand under the light of the actual sun, rather than the artificial environment of the moon. She…"

"And you _let her?_ "

The Queen froze at Nanoha's interruption. Nanoha forcibly ignored the part of her mind that wanted to embrace the apparition that it considered to be its mother and continued.

"Serenity was your only heir. You had a responsibility to ensure that she would be ready to take over the throne upon your death. And instead you stood aside and let her neglect her responsibilities and run off to another country on a whim – which she then did frequently enough to pick up a steady boyfriend there.

"Didn't you ever think about what kind of ruler a girl who routinely skipped out on her responsibilities would make? Didn't any of your advisors mention that to you? Or were they all hoping they would be the real rulers while an incompetent queen sat on the throne?

"Did you ever consider that a man who would court a princess who frequently neglected her duties on a whim might be someone intending to use her? Regardless of whether or not Endymion was that kind of man, it would have been all too easy for the husband of a queen who was unprepared for that role due to her own neglect to take over the responsibilities of the throne, and the power with it.

"And that doesn't even go into the fact that you allowed your heir to leave the country without a security detail – several times. And the potential diplomatic consequences that could have erupted if anything happened to her while she was taking an impromptu vacation in another country. I'm not sure which is worse – your daughter's irresponsible actions, or the fact that you allowed them to happen."

"I was very busy with important matters of state at the time." The Queen began. If the woman had been corporeal, she would have been sweating. Her eyes were wide as she tried to wrap her mind around Nanoha's accusation that she had failed her as both a mother and a queen.

"When I was born, my father was in critical condition in the hospital. My mother was usually either with him or at work, and my siblings were either in school or working themselves. I spent most of my early childhood alone. Despite that, my parents still managed to teach me to take my responsibilities seriously. Something you failed to teach Serenity." Nanoha turned around, and noticed that the rest of the group had found her.

"My child…" The Queen's image entreated.

"My mother's name is Momoko Takamachi. Good-bye, Your Majesty." The Queen's face twisted in grief at the casual rejection.

It seemed that her previous life was a severe disappointment. What Yuuno had learned at first implied that Beryl was the one who was wholly at fault, but she wasn't the only person who had a role in creating the disaster that caused the destruction of this palace and everything else dating back to that time period. Had Princess Serenity taken her responsibilities seriously, or Queen Serenity attempted to do something about her daughter's behavior, the love triangle that set Beryl off would not have happened. While this didn't excuse Beryl's actions, Nanoha felt that she probably would not like Princess Serenity if it were possible for them to meet in person. As far as she could tell, the only thing they had in common were some memories in which Serenity demonstrated conduct which Nanoha's family wouldn't have tolerated in their common-born daughter, leaving a princess with no excuse for such actions.

Nanoha walked away from the dais and approached Yuuno.

"I'd like to go back now, Yuuno-kun.

* * *

After the Princess was transported back to Earth, the Queen turned her attention to the other people present. The Senshi, noting that she was in formal regalia rather than a military uniform, knelt before her. The Queen gestured that they could rise, then turned her attention to her advisers.

"Luna?" The queen asked shakily.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Do you think my daughter was right? Did I fail in my duties to her as a queen? As a mother?"

Luna considered the Princess's statements. She had pretty much accused the entire court of failing to prepare their future ruler for the throne, out either incompetence or ambition. The truly depressing thing was that when Luna examined the Princess's logic, she was forced to concede that the Princess had a point.

Princess Serenity _had_ been neglecting her duty when she made her unscheduled trips to Earth, and the court _had_ allowed her to get away with it. That no immediately obvious consequences had resulted from these actions apart from a politically advantageous romance was no excuse. Had Endymion been a man with fewer scruples, he could easily have manipulated the Princess at will and effectively absorbed the Moon Kingdom.

Luna was more willing to forgive the Princess's final actions than the Princess herself was: The Princess in her current life was a warrior and a trainer of warriors, and was expecting her previous life to live up to that standard. But that didn't change the fact that Princess Serenity had been hopelessly unprepared for the throne at the time of her death, and as one of the Queen's advisors, Luna and Artemis should have noticed that and brought it to her attention. They had not. And while that failure was a genuine mistake on their part, it was entirely possible that some of the other advisors may have wanted the Princess to be unready for the throne, for the very reasons that the Princess had just mentioned.

"The fault is not yours alone, your majesty. Artemis and I also failed to raise the concerns that the Princess raised against her previous life's actions." She said. Artemis nodded in agreement.

The Queen sighed. "That you also failed to notice my mistakes doesn't change the fact that I made them. And all of my people suffered for my failure."

"Nanoha's always been very dedicated to her duty. I think it stems from the time a Jewel Seed activated and damaged a couple city blocks the first time she tried to take a day off. It was pure chance, but convinced herself that she always had to be ready in case she was needed after that, even after the point where she wasn't working alone and could afford to rest." Yuuno pointed out. "I can certainly see why she wouldn't approve of her past self doing the same thing repeatedly and getting away with it."

"You know my daughter well?"

"I've never met Princess Serenity, but I've known _Nanoha_ for half her life."

Luna noted the distinction. Like the Princess herself, her rival didn't associate her previous self with her current one. While that was highly unfortunate, the reasons behind this disassociation held some hope for the Moon Kingdom. When the Princess finally took up the throne, the dedication inherent to her character in this life would make her a far better queen than she would have as Serenity. And she would have to take up the throne. Her very insistence that a person should take their responsibilities seriously meant that she was obliged to do so.

"Tell me of the woman she has become."

Confident that the future of the Moon Kingdom was secure, Luna listened as the archaeologist started telling the Queen of the life of her daughter's current incarnation.

* * *

Fate had wanted to go on the Lunar expedition. But with so many other people already going on the trip, it was necessary for her to be on patrol in the city. She had just returned from an uneventful patrol when Nanoha arrived. Strangely, she had come back alone. Why had she needed to return ahead of the others?

"I wasn't expecting you to be back early, Nanoha." She began.

Her friend clung to her without speaking. Whatever it was that had happened on the moon, it had clearly disturbed Nanoha severely. Fate took her away from the public areas of their base back to her room.

"What's wrong, Nanoha?"

Nanoha started to describe what she had experienced on the moon. The most detail was spent on the actions she had performed in her previous life which she found inexcusable in her current one, and how she started recalling more and more details of that life as she saw places that triggered the long buried memories.

"It was like I was drowning in Serenity's memories. There were a couple moments that I had to force myself to remember that I wasn't her."

Fate could understand why Nanoha was upset about that. It had taken her quite some time to realize that Alicia's memories were not her own. Of course, Fate had wanted them to be her own, as Alicia's time with their mother was much happier than her own.

"And to make things worse, I think that Serenity was starting to affect my thinking earlier than that. When I first met Endymion's reincarnation, I was absolutely delighted to see him, and I didn't have the slightest notion as to _why_. Even after that one date, it didn't seem like we had anything in common. Would I have even been briefly interested in him had he not once been Endymion? Would he have ever been interested in me had I not once been Serenity? He even addressed me by her name on the moon. Was his interest in me real, or just an echo of a memory? How much of any of this is because of what people really want now as opposed to what the memories of people long dead wanted? How do I know what's real?"

Fate realized what the problem was. Nanoha needed an anchor, something that she could rely on that had nothing to do with her past life. A possibility occurred to her. Something that Fate had wanted to give Nanoha for some time, but had been unable to gather the courage to do so.

"I never lived in the Moon Kingdom, Nanoha. What I'm about to do is purely about us. Serenity has nothing to do with this." Fate said.

Then she kissed her.

* * *

As the Queen questioned Yuuno about her reincarnated daughter, she slowly started to fade. After she had vanished completely, the rest of the group started splitting up to do various tasks. The Princess's advisor decided to continue his archeological examination of the palace, accompanied by Artemis and Luna. Rei decided that the court needed a proper funeral and had started transporting bodies to the courtyard, eventually dragooning Signum and the other Senshi into helping her. Yuuno, recognizing that these bodies were far more than historical curiosities in their eyes, simply requested that he be allowed to run a cursory scan of the bodies and document exactly where they had originally lain before they were taken away.

After the Senshi finished gathering all of the fallen bodies in the courtyard, Rei gave the last rites to the court of the Moon Kingdom and ignited the enormous funeral mound. The smoke from that pyre would be seen by astronomers on the Earth, inspiring considerable speculation about what could make what appeared to be a fire appear on an airless planetoid, but nobody would be able to focus a powerful enough telescope on the site in time to notice anything. The Lunar Fire would quickly become just another minor mystery, ignored by everyone except conspiracy theorists.

* * *

While Precia was glad to learn that her daughter had made a friend on her first day at school, she was surprised by the fact that this friend was a mage. Mages were supposed to be rare on this planet. That was why the TSAB only referred to it by a number and ignored it unless a dimensional disturbance large enough to be noticed by a ship intending to go somewhere more important occurred. The odds of someone just running into a mage were unbelievably low.

Was this Tomoe girl a TSAB plant? Precia shook her head. Precia herself hadn't known what school Alicia was going to attend until a few days before she started going there. If the TSAB had been able to figure out where Alicia was going to school that quickly, they would have already locked up both of them.

It was good that Alicia had been able to make a friend so quickly. The fact that Alicia was now indisputably alive meant that the TSAB couldn't try to kill her if they managed to track them down, but Precia knew that she would be separated from her beloved child sooner or later. She had done her best to ensure that Alicia didn't know – knowing that her mother was both terminally ill and considered a wanted a criminal for trying to help her child would only make the girl worry – but there would come a time when either the TSAB would try to take her away or her failing health would give out completely. She needed to find a way to ensure that Alicia would be cared for once that time came.

The doorbell rang. Precia went to the door to meet her daughter's friend.

"Good afternoon, Testarossa-san." The girl said.

"You must be Hotaru. Alicia's told me about you. Please come…" Precia started. Then she lost her breath. She started coughing, dropping to her knees as she fought to breathe. She heard Alicia arriving in the entry way and gasp in shock at what she saw.

"Mother? What's wrong?"

Precia didn't answer. She couldn't have even if she wanted to. She hadn't wanted her daughter to learn of her condition, especially not like this! Unfortunately, her dying body wasn't complying with her wishes.

Suddenly, Precia felt strange warmth flowing through her chest. Her lungs started to clear, and she could breathe again. As she wiped the blood from her mouth, Precia realized that she felt better than she had in months. The illness that was slowly destroying her hadn't gone away, but it had been driven back.

Precia had been living on borrowed time for years. But now it seemed that there was a cure for her own health problems as well as her daughter's. Precia looked up into the face of the girl who given her new hope for the future.

* * *

Alicia gasped in shock. One moment her mother was fine, the next she was on the floor, coughing up blood. What had happened?

"Mother? What's wrong?" She asked.

Her mother didn't answer. She just continued to cough. Alicia didn't know what to do. She'd never known her mother to be sick before. Had something happened to her while she was sick?

Hotaru made her way towards her mother's side. Alicia watched as Hotaru placed her hands on her mother's back. Endless seconds passed. Beads of sweat formed on Hotaru's forehead. But slowly, her mother's breathing eased.

"Are you alright, mother?" Alicia asked as her mother slowly climbed to her feet.

"I-it's alright, Alicia. It's past now." Her mother said.

"What was that?"

"Something I caught while you were ill. Don't worry; it isn't something you two are likely to catch from me."

Alicia didn't find her words very reassuring. She could tell that her mother was worried, even if she didn't want her worrying. But her mother didn't appear to be willing to talk about it, and she didn't want to push.

Alicia turned to Hotaru. Their friendship had started as the result of a coincidence, their being the only mages in their school. Now that happy chance had saved her mother. Alicia was very glad that she met her first friend.

* * *

Meeting the Testarossas was the first piece of good fortune to happen to Hotaru since her mother died. She had never before healed someone without the person she helped responding with revulsion to her unusual ability. Having someone thank her and offer to help her learn more about her abilities was a wonder.

For the first time in her life, Hotaru had an actual friend. Her friend's family had welcomed her without reservations. Life was wonderful.

She was so focused on that simple fact as she headed home that she was surprised to find herself stumbling as one foot slipped. As she climbed to her feet, Hotaru realized that something strange had happened.

She had completely lost all feeling in the toes on her right foot.

* * *

Omake: The consequences of NanoFate

Nanoha Serenity Small Lady Chiba (Also known as Picoha) walked through the woods outside the Tsukimura estate. An event had happened in these woods that had caused Crystal Tokyo to never come into existence, and Puu-chan had sent her back into the past in order to ensure that the event in question didn't happen. If she failed in her mission, her parents would never marry, and she would cease to exist as her timeline vanished from existence.

Picoha brushed the twigs that had caught in her odangos as she walked under low-hanging branches as she made her way to her destination, a kitten of enormous proportions. She had to ensure that a certain person was kept distracted so that she would never meet her mother. Her life depended on it.

A rustling ahead of her preceded the arrival of a blonde girl who for some reason was carrying a bunny plushie. The girl narrowed her mismatched eyes at Picoha.

"Are the time traveler trying to break up my mamas?" The woman girl.

"Who are you?" Picoha asked.

"My name is Vivio Takamachi. I was sent back in time to deal with someone trying to alter the past so that my mamas don't meet. Is that you?"

This girl was another time traveler, one sent to thwart her mission! There was only one thing to do. Picoha had to defeat her fast enough that she would be able to ensure that history unfolded properly. In the distance, Picoha could see a figure in black flying towards the giant kitten. She was running out of time.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" She called out, transforming into Sailor Chibi-Moon.

"Sacred Heart, Set Up." Vivio countered, causing her to abruptly age a decade and change into a black bodysuit.

"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" Picoha cried, firing a series of magical hearts at her enemy.

Vivio leapt over the attack, kicking as she did so. Picoha was knocked down by the blow. A second strike knocked the Pink Moon Stick out of her hands. Picoha struggled to her feet. She had to win this fight. Crystal Tokyo depended on it. Her very existence depended on it.

The next ten seconds were very long for Picoha. Her opponent gave her a swift, brutal, and very efficient beatdown, followed by a binding spell once Picoha was no longer able to fight.

"No… I have to stop it… If I don't, Crystal Tokyo will…" She weakly protested.

The kitten in the distance vanished. Flashes of pink and yellow light showed that her mother had met the person she was supposed to be kept away from. A crash in the distance announced the end of the battle between the two.

Nanoha Takamachi fell to the ground in a clearing a ways away. When she woke, her mind would be focused on the girl who had beaten her, and would wonder why her beautiful eyes looked so sad.

In that moment, the destinies of Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa became intertwined. In that moment, Nanoha started down a path that took her away from the world that she would find her first love with a man who in this life was named Mamoru Chiba for the second time. In that moment, the world which Princess Nanoha Serenity Small Lady Chiba was born ceased to exist.

Picoha faded from existence along with the potential future that created her.

* * *

A/N: A lot of reviewers have mentioned that they didn't like the notion of Mamoru/Nanoha. Well, the romance in their previous lives only got them to the point of initial attraction, which only really helps to get a foot in the door. Mamoru had the opportunity to get to know Usagi as a person well before they started actually dating in canon, which he hasn't had here.

Sailor Venus had been trained to use a broadsword. The weapon she used at the wedding was a kodachi. Different size, different balance, meant to be used with a different style.

The Senshi have had over a year to adjust to remembering events from their previous lives, and didn't consider said lives to be a point of shame. As a result, they didn't find the additional memories awakened by visiting the Moon Palace to be overwhelming.

What's happening to Hotaru? Think A's.


	11. A Mother's Love

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 10

A Mother's Love

Nanoha's eyes widened with surprise as Fate's lips met hers. For most of her life she had been so dedicated to her work that the thought of romance hadn't occurred to her until after she had learned of her previous incarnation's love life. But given how little she had in common with the reincarnation of Serenity's beau, the notion of continuing that relationship didn't really appeal to her.

Nanoha's mind flashed back to some of her memories of Fate over the past year. Waking up from a coma to find Fate sitting next to the bed, tears streaking her face. Going through a long, painful convalescence from her injuries with Fate always there to help her. Sinking into despair over the possibility that she might never fly again only to have Fate volunteer to take her back into the skies. Winding up in the hospital again after defeating Jadeite at Kyouya's wedding and Fate's panicked scolding afterwards.

Fate had always been there for her since the day she had returned from her trial seven years ago. Nanoha had never realized how much she had meant to Fate up until that point. And how much it had meant to her to have someone so faithful, so kind, to be there when she needed her. Nanoha slowly wrapped her arms around the back of her closest friend and returned the kiss.

The group that returned from the moon was rather subdued. The thought that the fall of the Moon Kingdom was at least partially the fault of its own royal family as the result of some rather foolish mistakes tarnished the idealized image that the Senshi had created in their minds about the world their previous lives had lived in. Far more troubling was the sight of all of the bodies. Seeing that many corpses in one place was bad enough, but the bodies or the personal effects of the fallen were intact enough to be recognizable far too often. There was hardly a room in the palace that hadn't contained a body that had once been somebody important to one of them. A sibling. A parent. A cousin. A friend. The fact that they found their own bodies and remembered what happened to them just added to the horror. Every single one of the Senshi privately expected that they would have nightmares that night.

The only member of the group with any positive thoughts on the expedition was Yuuno. He had managed to be the first to explore an absolutely pristine ruin from an obscure civilization. Between his recordings, the artifacts that he had secured, and the data he had downloaded from the computer systems he had located, he had enough information that it would take him years to properly document and publish it all. But even though the trip was a tremendous professional success for him, the mood of the rest of the party prevented him from focusing on that (Even Signum, who had no connection to the Moon Kingdom, was caught up in it – apparently the devastation reminded her of some things she had lived through under previous masters). Especially considering that the reason for their mood was rather obvious.

Rein greeted the group as they arrived back at the TSAB base.

"I was wondering when you people would show up. Nanoha got back hours ago."

The group knew exactly why she had left the expedition early. Minako stepped forward. She (or rather, her previous self) had been directly involved with the first of the events that had made Nanoha want to leave, so it was probably best if she was the one who talked to her about them.

"Could I speak with her? She was rather upset when she left."

"I'll go see." The miniature girl flew away, only to return very quickly. "Um, I don't think they want to be disturbed."

"They?" Artemis asked, "Who are they and what are they doing?"

Rein blushed furiously. "Uhh… let's just say that Amy won the pool."

Six sets of eyes turned to look at Ami Mizuno.

"Don't look at me. I don't know anything about a pool." The girl said defensively as her colleagues stared at her.

"I think Rein meant Amy Harlaown, Fate's sister-in-law. I'd actually forgotten about that pool. Hayate must have set that up five years ago." Yuuno explained.

"And what is this pool about?" Luna inquired.

"When Fate would finally confess to Nanoha."

The jaws of all the Senshi dropped as one.

After the revelation that the Moon Princess had apparently sought comfort from the unpleasant facts of how she had lived her previous life in the arms of another woman, the Senshi dispersed. Mamoru trudged home slowly, trying to wrap his mind around what had happened.

The memory of Serenity had been a major part of his life for well over a year. The memories of their time together in the Silver Millennium often seemed more real to him than the memories of the present day. The reason his short-lived relationship with Rei had fallen apart was because he couldn't get the princess out of his head. And the princess had just dumped him.

Mamoru knew that their first date hadn't gone well, and that Serenity hadn't been happy with what she had learned at the Moon Palace, but he hadn't thought it had gone that badly. Now he had lost her. And given that Serenity's friends had known this had been coming that they'd had a betting pool on exactly when it would occur running for several years, it was highly unlikely that he'd be able to get her back.

The woman he had loved enough to die for had found someone else. What was he supposed to do now?

Alicia was feeling a little light-headed when she got out of bed. She wasn't sure why this had happened, but she hadn't put too much thought into it. She didn't want to worry her mother with a minor complaint, especially since she was ill herself. It was probably just that she hadn't had enough sleep the night before. It would pass.

Unfortunately, it didn't pass. Alicia found the sensation slowly increasing as the day passed. As she listened to her teachers lecturing, her vision would occasionally blur, and the sound of the teacher's voice would fade out for a few moments before the world returned to focus. By the time lunch came around, Alicia had reluctantly concluded that she would have to tell her mother about this when she got back home.

Alicia ate her lunch with Hotaru. Nobody ever wanted to join them. It seemed that a lot of the other students had decided to shun Hotaru because of her open use of healing magic, thinking it strange. A number of them also avoided Alicia because she associated with the other girl.

"So you say that there are other mages in the area?" She asked.

Hotaru nodded. "I've never seen them myself, though. Nobody was really sure they really existed until a few weeks ago. They'd just been rumors up until then. Come to think of it, one of the ones that got photographed looks a lot like you. Do you have a cousin named Fate?"

Alicia shook her head. "Mother never told me about any cousins. She's the only…" For some reason, Alicia could no longer make out her own words. Her vision started to blur again. Her head spun as the world went dark.

Having a friend to eat lunch with was new experience for Hotaru. Having a friend at all was a new experience for her. Her unusual ability had resulted in her being ostracized by everyone in her age group. The sight of her first and only friend passing out for no apparent reason horrified her.

Hotaru put her hands on her unconscious friend and called up healing powers. Nothing happened. Hotaru gritted her teeth and focused harder. After three endless minutes, she had to stop, gasping for breath. It hadn't worked. She had never seen an injury that she couldn't heal before. Terrified of losing her only friend, Hotaru climbed to her feet. She had to get help.

She took one step, and fell over. The strange paralysis that had affected her toes had spread to her entire right foot. Scrambling back to her feet, Hotaru started walking more carefully, leaning on the wall to help her balance with an unresponsive foot. Her friend needed to see a doctor fast, and Hotaru wasn't about to let a bad foot prevent her from getting one.

Precia sat by her daughter's bedside, holding her hand. She had rushed to the hospital as soon as she learned what had happened.

The local doctors had done what they could to figure out the source of Alicia's malady, but they were constrained by the limits of medical knowledge on the backwater planet in which they were trained. Alicia was slowly fading out, and it was unlikely that she would wake again if a treatment was not found.

Precia was not limited by the limited knowledge base of a backwater planet that didn't even acknowledge the existence of scientific thaumaturgy. She knew exactly why Alicia was dying. The life energy infusion that Precia had provided had been sufficient to revive her daughter, but had not fully restored her. The power was now running out, and when it did, Alicia's life would go with it.

She needed more energy. The problem was that a regular infusion of life energy would require gathering it regularly, and doing that would cause Precia to run the risk of encountering agents of the TSAB and the Dark Kingdom, either of which would lock her up and kill Alicia if they could. No, a periodic recharge of life energy was too dangerous.

But what if she instead went for a single massive infusion? If she gathered enough power at once, and put it all into Alicia, she might be able to induce a self-sustained reaction. Then Precia would only need to go through the dangers of gathering the energy once. But where could she get the life energy she needed?

Precia smiled as a thought occurred to her. She was in a hospital. People died in hospitals all the time. All she had to do was drain some people who were seriously ill and nobody would notice that they hadn't died of natural causes. And it wasn't as if anyone in this place really mattered.

Having decided on a plan, Precia left her daughter's room and started looking for people to drain.

Dr Saeko Mizuno looked over her notes on her latest patient and was completely stumped. Basic analysis of the condition of Alicia Testarossa didn't show any traditional symptoms of illness. She simply had all her vital signs slowly and steadily dropping for no reason. It was like she was some kind of wind-up toy that was running down. At the moment it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the girl's pulse dropped to the point where she would go into brain death, followed by actual death. Saeko forced her mind away from the depressing train of thought she was on. She needed to focus on saving the girl, not on what would happen if she couldn't.

Her office phone rang. Glad for the distraction, Saeko picked it up, to find one of the duty nurses on the other end.

"Dr Mizuno? We just lost Seziyate-san." The nurse reported.

That was strange. Seziyate had been seriously ill, but he had already gotten over the worst of his illness. Saeko was certain that he would have recovered enough to go home by the end of the week. There was no reason why he should suddenly end up dead. Certainly not without showing some sign that there had been complications with his treatment before this.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"That's just it. We don't know. One minute he was fine, and the next his vitals just started dropping rapidly. Now he's dead. We would have called you as it happened, but it happened so fast that it was over before we could report it."

"I'm on my way."

This wasn't good. People shouldn't drop dead for no reason. Especially when they had already been successfully treated for what was wrong with them. Something very bad was happening.

Saeko arrived at the nurse's post to find her missing and an alarm going off indicating that another patient was suddenly dying. Saeko hurried to the patient's room, almost running into a woman with graying hair in her rush. It was too late. The patient was already dead. Looking down, Saeko saw the still form of Nurse Hasegawa. Putting on a pair of disposable gloves, she checked for a pulse and found that the nurse was dead as well.

What had happened? There wasn't any sign of physical trauma, and a disease normally wouldn't kill its host that quickly – if it did, it would die with the host without getting the chance to spread. This simply wasn't natural. She had a very bad feeling about this.

Saeko left the room, intending to call the pathology department so that a specialist could figure out exactly what had happened here. There could be an epidemic of a totally unknown disease starting out, and if that was the case it needed to be verified and this whole ward – possibly the entire hospital – quarantined before it could wipe out half of Tokyo. As she returned to the nurse's station, she saw the woman she almost ran into earlier looking at some of the records at the post.

"Excuse me, but patient records are restricted."

The woman looked up, stared at her a moment, and then bolted.

Realizing that this was not a normal reaction to what would have been a request to not go through hospital paperwork, Saeko snapped out orders to an orderly to have full autopsies done on the three dead bodies they had suddenly acquired and that the rooms they had died in were to be considered biohazard areas until a cause of death was determined. She then followed after the woman, calling for security. If she was in any way connected to the sudden deaths, then she needed to be isolated before she could cause it to spread any further.

It hadn't taken long for Precia to find some people to drain. The documents at the nearby nurse's station noted that several people in the ward she was in were listed as being in serious condition. Noting the name and room number of one of them, she walked into his room and extracted all of his energy. Then she went back to choose her next energy donor.

The second time around, Precia encountered some difficulties. Siphoning away the life energy of the man in the bed was a simple exercise. But as she finished up, a woman in a nurse's outfit came into the room.

"Who are you? What are you doing with that man?" She demanded.

Precia cursed her ill fortune. She had already been caught. But then a thought occurred to her. Why did she have to only take the life energy of the already dying? She could get more power by taking it from healthy specimens. It wasn't as if these people really mattered. The only thing that was important was saving Alicia. Precia cast the energy draining spell on the nurse. A couple minutes later, the dead body of the nurse dropped to the floor, and Precia's supply of life energy was greatly increased.

Precia returned to the nurse's post to choose her next donor, nearly running into a doctor heading in the other direction. As she was going through the notes left behind at the post, she heard a voice telling her that she shouldn't be doing that. Looking up, Precia saw the doctor she had nearly collided with.

There hadn't been that much time since their brief encounter. The doctor would have had to have turned around almost immediately in order to get back to where they were so quickly. And the one place Precia could think of that a doctor would want to hurry to and then promptly turn around was the room where she had killed the patient and the nurse. She had been caught again.

Draining the doctor wasn't an option at the moment. It would take too much time, and she was in too visible a location. There was too much of a risk that others would pass by and notice, which would cause an alarm to be sounded, which would bring in the TSAB. She couldn't risk that, not yet. Precia ran.

Making her way back to Alicia's room, she hurriedly started infusing her child with the stolen energy. The TSAB would learn about this, she was sure of it. She had to revive Alicia and flee the area as soon as possible – her current address was recorded on Alicia's records, which they would track down. It would mean Alicia would have to leave her first friend behind, but the TSAB had left her child to die before, and would again. It was the only way to protect her.

The door opened, and the doctor who had caught her walked in.

"Step away from the girl." The woman ordered. "I don't know how the other patients suddenly died, but I am not having it happen a third time."

"Of course it won't." Precia agreed. "I'm doing everything I can to save her. And you're going to help me!"

Now that they were out of the corridors, Precia could drain away the doctor's energy without being noticed. Dragging the woman away from the doorway to keep her out of sight, she started the process of extracting the power needed to save Alicia. The useless so-called doctors of this provincial backwater had been totally unable to figure out what was wrong with her daughter, but one of them would cure her just the same. Precia laughed at the irony.

A scream split the air. Precia looked up to see her daughter had awakened, and was staring at the scene before her in utter horror. Other people started entering the room, drawn by the sudden scream.

Precia could have crushed the intruders without any trouble at all. But the sight of her beloved daughter looking at her with fear in her eyes completely unnerved her. Unfortunately, Precia didn't have time to explain why her actions were necessary. They had to leave immediately. She released her spell, causing the doctor to fall to the ground, unconscious. She picked up her daughter and made for the window, only for Alicia to start panicking. As she exited the building and started levitating away, Alicia squirmed out of her arms, falling back into the hospital. She was quickly grabbed by a guard and taken away from the window.

If the guards were there, then the TSAB had to have been notified. She had run out of time. Precia fled the scene, vowing to return to rescue her daughter later.

Ami's mother being in the hospital wasn't exactly a remarkable event. She was always at the hospital. Between her mother's work schedule, and the schedule Ami had as a result of school, juku, and Senshi work, the last time the two of them had been at home at the same time (Not counting times when one or both of them was asleep) had been three weeks previously. Her mother being in the hospital as the patient was an unusual occurrence, however.

Ami's mother wasn't just injured or ill, though. She was in a coma as the result of an attack that had killed two patients and a nurse. And while none of the doctors could figure out what was wrong with her mother, Ami knew what it was immediately: a life energy drain.

This was a troubling development. The Dark Kingdom had never drained someone to the point where the victim actually died before. Even if it was because they wanted to be able to drain a given victim again at a later date, they had always left their victims alive. In addition to the implications it had with the war, it was also bad for Ami's mother. Normally, people who had been drained of life energy recovered after some rest. But nobody had ever been drained to this extent before. Ami had no idea if her mother would revive in the same way that the hundreds of earlier victims had.

The one fortunate thing about the incident was that a lot of people had seen the youma responsible, which would make it easier to track down and destroy. But when Ami heard the description – and the name of the patient in the room where her mother had been attacked – she realized that the perpetrator hadn't been a youma. It had been a woman. A woman named Precia Testarossa.

Traveling to the hospital with only one functional foot was difficult, but Hotaru was able to find a way to limp her way there without losing balance. When she finally made it there, she found the building surrounded by police vehicles.

It took some time to get to Alicia's room. That entire section of the hospital was filled with policemen, who were interviewing everyone. Hotaru wasn't sure what had happened, but it must have been serious for this to be happening.

When Hotaru finally got to Alicia's room, she found her friend shaking in fear.

"What's the matter, Alicia? What happened?" Hotaru asked.

"Hotaru?" Alicia gasped. "It was awful! Mother was casting a spell on somebody. It was hurting her, I could tell. And Mother was laughing the whole time. Now people are saying that she killed some people. What's going on?"

Was that why the police were here? That would make sense, if it wasn't for the fact that what Alicia saw didn't make any sense. The woman that Hotaru had met had been a caring mother who happened to be very ill. She didn't seem like someone who would go out and start killing people.

As Hotaru tried to calm her friend down, she realized that there was someone in the doorway. Someone she recognized, even if they had never met before. It was the girl who looked so much like her friend that Hotaru had wondered if they were related. It was the mage known as Fate.

As the only member of the TSAB's law enforcement branch present, Fate was called on to respond to the report that Precia had attacked a hospital and killed three people. While Fate could understand why her mother would attack TSAB agents (Even if she didn't approve of it), this time she had attacked civilians who had never even heard of her. For the sake of everyone involved, she would have to be contained, and soon.

Getting past the front desk was trivial. Ami Mizuno was already there visiting her mother, so she walked her right through as another visitor. From there, Fate was easily able to get to the room that her mother had fled to and then escaped from. The sight before her was something she wasn't expecting.

There were two girls in the room, who were talking about what had happened in the hospital. Unlike most of the people in the hospital, these two girls knew that Precia had used magic to kill her victims, and were discussing it openly. One of them, a dark-haired girl in a school uniform of some sort, Fate didn't know. But the other girl, the one lying in the bed in a hospital gown, she did know. Fate knew that girl's face as well as she did her own. After all, from a certain point of view, the face was her own. Fate had seen many things over the years, but she had never thought she would see Alicia Testarossa alive.

Looking at the girl in whose image she had been created, an old, half-forgotten wound started to ache. She remembered learning that every time that her mother had smiled in her memories, she had been smiling at someone else. That of all the mother-daughter photos her mother treasured, she had not been in any of them. That she had lived her life competing for her mother's love against a ghost, and had never once had a chance of success. There was a part of her that really wanted to hate the girl in the bed.

But that part of her was countered by the fact that Fate knew her sister far too well. She had been created as a copy of Alicia, and that included all of her memories. That included the memory of one morning that implied that Alicia's reaction to Fate would be very different from Precia's.

Alicia turned her head to see what Hotaru was staring at. To her surprise, the figure standing in the doorway was her. Or rather, a woman who looked like an older version of her.

"It's nice to meet you after all these years, Alicia." The stranger said.

"Do I know you?" She asked.

"You've never seen me before today, but I think you know who I am. Do you remember the last picnic your mother took you on before she had to start working long hours at work?"

Alicia nodded, not sure where this was going.

"At that picnic, your mother asked you what you wanted for your next birthday. Do you remember what you asked her for?"

"Yes. I asked her for…" Alicia paused. How did this woman know about that? The only person she told that to was her mother. Could she actually be…?

The woman walked to the side of the bed.

"My name is Fate Testarossa Harlaown," She said. "I'm your little sister."

"But that's impossible!" Hotaru protested, "You've got to be at least sixteen. How could you be Alicia's younger sister? She's only six!"

"If we count the time she spent in medical stasis, she's thirty nine."

"Thirty… nine? How long was I ill?" Alicia gasped.

"You were seriously injured when something went wrong with Mother's project." The stranger – no, her sister – explained. "She's spent most of the past thirty-three years trying to heal you."

Thirty three years. Her mother had implied that she'd been out for a long time, but she had never imagined that it had been that long. No wonder she had looked so much older.

"Why didn't Mother ever mention you before?"

Fate's eyes were sad. "Mother… doesn't like me."

"Why?"

To answer, Fate tossed a pen onto the bed. As Alicia picked it up, Fate produced a second pen.

"What did I do differently than you?"

Alicia was puzzled for a moment, and then she realized. Alicia was holding her pen in her left hand. Fate was using her right hand.

"We look so much alike that she couldn't help but be reminded of you whenever she looked at me." Fate explained. "But we're different enough that anything I did, even something as simple as picking up a pen, reminded her that I wasn't you, and that she'd lost you."

Alicia had always wanted a sister. Now she had one. It was sad that Fate and Mother didn't get along, but now that Alicia was better, perhaps they could make up. And maybe Fate could help figure out what why their mother had acted so strangely. Alicia smiled at her sister.

Sorting things out with the authorities was a very time consuming process. Fate was glad that she was one of the few TSAB employees who actually had records on this planet. Proving that she was Alicia's next of kin after Precia was hard enough without having to explain why there was no legal documentation proving that she existed at all (Fate didn't even try to get them to understand that she was Alicia's younger sister). But she was able to eventually convince the hospital staff to understand that Alicia's condition was not really treatable and release her to Fate's custody.

Dealing with the police who were looking into her mother's triple murder was more difficult. Fate had had plenty of experience in dealing with law enforcement in her years as one, but here she was dealing with individuals who had never heard of the agency she worked for. The unexpected publicity resulting from the wedding battle helped get her foot in the door in that matter, as did the fact that she was able to drop the name of Nanoha's aunt, who was a senior police officer in a department that the Tokyo PD did acknowledge the existence of.

After Fate established that she was someone who understood what had happened that caused three people to die for no obvious reason and who the person responsible was, Fate turned over a copy of her mother's reactivated file that had been modified to only mention things that the local authorities would understand. She then had to explain that Alicia was in no way connected to the child abuse charge before the officer blew his top. In the end, a report was sent back to the local police precinct that would likely result in a warrant being written out for one Dr Precia Testarossa, murderess.

With all the paperwork taken care of, Fate took her sister back to the TSAB base she had been staying in. There was no way that Alicia could be taken back to her previous address. The police would be tearing the place apart looking for evidence they could use against Precia within the hour, and given that she was apparently willing to kill anyone in the general vicinity to get life energy to maintain Alicia's health, it was probably for the best if Precia did not know where her daughter was.

Fate remembered the dream world that the Book of Darkness had trapped her in, where she had had a happy family life with her mother, Alicia, and Linith. Leaving that idyllic fantasy behind so that she could help Nanoha was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She was genuinely touched by the fact that Alicia had offered to make that dream come as close to true as possible (Given that Linith had been dead for eight years) the moment that she learned of the rift between Fate and their mother. Unfortunately, it wasn't likely to happen. Even if Precia could be convinced to accept her second child, the crimes she had committed while trying to revive her firstborn would see her spending the rest of her days in a prison facility, surrounded by fellow inmates who would undoubtedly take a dim view of the child abuse mentioned on her record. And on the other side of the equation, it was only a matter of time before Alicia once again suffered the same malady that landed her in the hospital in the first place.

Fate knew that her sister's continued survival was both unnatural and temporary. But she planned to be there for Alicia for what little time she had left. Alicia had always wanted a little sister, and even circumstances had caused her 'little' sister to be nearly three times her age, she now had one. Let her enjoy what time she could have with her family. Unless a miracle happened, she didn't have much time left.

Miyuki had had a wonderful evening. It had been a long time since her last date. None of the relationships she had gotten into with any of the boys in the area had ever gone anywhere. After her impromptu statement during her brother's wedding, a number of them actually seemed to be afraid of her. Then she met Masato.

She had never before dated someone she had first met as a customer at the family café, but she was glad that she met him. After the commotion caused by the wedding battle, it was nice to meet someone who wasn't obsessed with the revelation that her sister was a magical girl. After he had been showing up at the Midori-ya often enough to be considered a regular, during which time they had talked during the occasional lulls in the work load, he had asked her out.

The date had been fantastic. Masato had been quite charming and she'd had a marvelous time. Now, as he drove her back home in his very expensive Italian sports car (Of a model that Miyuki found highly amusing), she found herself hoping that he would ask her out again. Masato Sanjouin seemed to be very good boyfriend material.

Omake: Tying up a loose end

Fate went down for breakfast, Nanoha at her side. The night before she had finally confessed her feelings to her oldest friend, and Nanoha had accepted them. As she walked down the stairs with her arm around Nanoha's waist, she couldn't think of how her life could be more perfect.

"Did you two have fun last night?" Hayate asked, smirking. The other two Aces blushed furiously at the revelation that the change in their relationship was already known.

"Are you alright with… us?" Nanoha asked.

"The only problem I have with what you two did was your timing. If you had put it off for another two weeks I'd have won the pool."

"You mean…" Fate began.

"Fate, everyone knew how you felt for Nanoha. It was only a matter of time. Oh, yes. One of the Senshi left a message before she went home last night."

As Fate wrapped her mind around the fact that her feelings for Nanoha hadn't been nearly as secret as she'd thought, Nanoha unfolded that Hayate passed her. She looked over the note once, and then passed it to Fate.

Mamoru and I used to date before his memories of the Moon Princess started returning. Since you don't appear to want him, do you mind if I take him back?

-Rei

Fate looked at Nanoha. Nanoha smiled, and scribbled "Go ahead" on the note.

"Could someone have this sent to Hino-san's place?" Nanoha asked.

Fate took Nanoha's hand as Zafira volunteered to deliver the note. It seemed that Nanoha's other suitor would be taken care of for them. Fate's day was turning out to be even better than she thought it would.

A/N: Last chapter certainly turned out to be controversial. I think the review by For Spite did a good job of explaining why Nanoha acted the way she did. In regards to the Picoha omake, there are certain things the disapproving reviewers didn't consider.

1: Picoha wasn't protecting the time stream, she was trying to alter it into an unnatural state dependent on the paradox she was creating.

2: Without her mothers, Vivio would be a brainwashed slave controlling a Weapon of Mass Destruction, who would undoubtedly end up causing several massacres.

3: Picoha is the one who started the fight, without making any attempt to explain her actions (As is traditional for MGLN antagonists)

4: Vivio had no way of knowing that subduing her opponent non-lethally would result in Picoha being retconned out of existence.

Alicia's only six. She's not really prepared to accept how crazy her mother is, especially since she's only seen her acting irrationally once.

Alicia's desire for a sister is never mentioned in the anime, but it does get mentioned in the movie – at the most heartbreaking moment possible.

Nephrite's car in SM canon is a Ferrari Testarossa.


	12. Operation Bowser

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

 

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 11

Operation Bowser

 

Makoto was in trouble. Her opponent, a man considerably larger and stronger than she was, closed in on her. The man's fist swung towards her with enough force to knock her for a loop. She darted to the side and brought her arms up to make an inside block. Grabbing the man's wrist with her left hand, she launched a backhanded blow at his face with her right. The man turned his head to the side, keeping her from breaking his nose. Despite that, he was still knocked back a bit from the blow.

 

Sensing an opening, Makoto took the offensive. She snapped a high roundhouse kick at he opponent's throat. He caught her foot before it could strike. Undaunted, she threw herself backwards, pulling the man down as she gained the leverage she needed to make a rolling throw. As she got back to her feet, a sudden instinct made her throw herself back to the ground, as a metal sphere whizzed past where her head had been. It seemed that Vita had entered the fight.

 

Makoto had been interested in fighting for as long as she could remember. She supposed that was a side effect of her past life. From the night when she woke up screaming when she first relived how the previous Sailor Jupiter had died, she had suspected that a part of her subconsciously remembered how much dying in pieces (She still didn't know exactly how many pieces she had ended up in - she had thrown up when she reached thirty seven and refused to count any further) _hurt_ and wanted to ensure that history didn't repeat itself if she ended up in a similar situation in her current life.

 

She had thought she had gotten pretty good. That belief had been reinforced when she was able to take out two TSAB agents in close combat during the evaluation exercise. Then she started advanced training under Zafira. The TSAB apparently didn't require their low-level operatives to undergo much training in hand-to-hand. The same was not the case with their specialists. Zafira was more skilled than her earlier opponents by an order of magnitude at the very least, and every match that Makoto had had with him so far had ended in defeat. But over the course of those battles, she had learned how to channel her power through her already magically enhanced muscles, and a great deal more about fighting that she could use even without using her Senshi powers.

 

Still, the lessons would be a lot easier if the Princess hadn't decided to work a situational awareness exercise into them. Every now and then Vita would step into the fight to launch a few of her magic croquet balls at her, forcing Makoto to detect and evade them or find her main teacher stepping in to take advantage of her recovering from the sudden blow.

 

The one time she had tried firing back at her second opponent, it had turned out badly. She hadn't even hit the girl. She _had_ managed to scorch Vita's silly looking hat, however. That had been a mistake. The girl had taken one look at her damaged headgear before Makoto found herself fighting for her life against an enraged loli with a hammer that now suddenly outmassed both of them combined. That had been painful.

 

Makoto's brief reminiscence was ended by the realization that Zafira had taken advantage of the brief delay that Vita had forced her to take in regaining her footing to climb to his feet and resume his attack. With no time to climb to her feet, Makoto rolled to the side and attempted a leg sweep. Zafira went down, giving Makoto the time she needed to get back up again and return to a fighting stance.

 

The two slowly circled each other, looking for an opening. As they watched each other, Makoto spotted some movement in the corner of her eye. Realizing what it was, she made her move. Makoto darted forward. Zafira readied himself to meet her charge, but she didn't even try to attack him. She moved past him and launched a light strike that forced him to reorient himself to face her - and incidentally place himself into the path of Vita's projectile.

 

Taken off guard by the unexpected friendly fire, Zafira's guard slipped for the first time in the fight. Makoto quickly moved in to take advantage of the opening. One kick and Zafira was knocked to the ground. She then bent over him and punched the ground just next to his head. The match was over. She had won.

 

"You've improved." Zafira admitted as he got back up.

 

Makoto smiled triumphantly. This was her first victory against her teacher, a man larger, stronger and far more experienced than she was. If she kept this up, she wouldn't have to worry about reliving a certain nightmare in real life ever again.

 

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Alicia's life had undergone a massive upheaval. One day she was just a girl whose mother was away from home due to her work. The next she had woken up in a home she had never seen before on a planet she had never heard of to find that she had been ill long enough for her mother to have visibly aged in the time she was asleep. A few short weeks later, she had fallen ill again, and witnessed her mother attack a woman for no reason that she could see.

 

It wasn't just the attack. Alicia would have been willing to believe that her mother had done it to protect her. It was the fact that her mother was laughing as she did it. That had told her that there was something very wrong with her mother. And now she was being taken to yet another new home by a little sister who hadn't been born when she first fell ill. A little sister who was technically ten years older than she was.

 

Because Alicia hadn't been ill for a few months. She had preserved in stasis while her mother desperately searched for a cure for more than thirty years. All of the children she knew from her old home were all grown up, probably with children her age of their own by now. Even though she hadn't known any of them very well, it was still a troubling thought.

 

What had happened to make her have to spend decades in stasis? What had happened to her mother to make her capable of hurting people and laughing while she did so? _Why_ did her mother attack that woman in the first place? There was so much she didn't know. Hopefully her sister would be able to explain what was going on.

 

Arriving at the third place she would call home in what seemed like a month from her perspective, Alicia was surprised to see what looked like a living doll flying up to pin something onto a bulletin board. She knew some people could use magic to fly, but had never before seen someone that small before.

 

"Welcome back, Fate." The miniature woman said.

 

"Hello, Rein. This is my sister Alicia." Fate replied. "Alicia, this is Rein. She's a Belkan Unison Device."

 

"Hello, Alicia." Rein said, shaking one of Alicia's fingers with her entire hand. "Oh, Fate, we just got a message from your brother. Congratulations, you are now an aunt." She pointed to the bulletin board, where a pair of baby pictures had just been attached, with the caption 'Karel and Liera Harlaown'.

 

Alicia's eyes widened. "We have a brother?" she asked excitedly.

 

"Chrono is the son of the woman who took me in after Mother disowned me. He married one of his coworkers last year. I was expecting the twins to be born soon. Come on, Alicia, there's someone I really want you to meet."

 

Travelling upstairs to a bedroom, Alicia was approached by a puppy.

 

"Alicia, this is my familiar Aruf. I made her when I was about a year older than you are now."

 

The puppy walked up to her and sniffed her hand.

 

"Hello, Alicia." Aruf said. Then she licked Alicia's face. She giggled.

 

As Alicia sat down on the bed, Aruf jumped onto her lap. As she idly stroked the puppy, her sister started to tell her about all that had happened in the family in the long years that she had missed.

 

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Ami stretched her hands above the shallow bowl and concentrated. This form of magic was different from what she had used as a Senshi. Most of the magic she had used as Sailor Mercury was like a software application. It was already written, she just needed to give the proper command to execute it. That made it easy to use but limited her to using the commands she already knew about. While she probably could develop new spells, there was no one alive who knew enough about that form of magic to explain how, and she didn't have the time to do the experimentation that would be needed to figure out the principles behind doing so, which left her with a highly limited repertoire unless she managed to recover the memory of additional spells at some point.

 

Mid-Childan magic was far more difficult. It required her to actually understand what she was doing with the spell, effectively making her write out parts of the program in her head. But since there was documentation on how it worked and instructors available (While it was possible that some of the records recovered from the palace included information on the principles behind Senshi magic, she hadn't found any yet. She was still searching though), it was possible to learn the principles on which the magic operated, making development of new spells more feasible. Which was why she was staring at a bowl of water, attempting her first original spell.

 

Ami turned her thoughts to the formula she had worked out. Focus. Draw the thermal energy away from specific points in the water and disperse it elsewhere. A diagram appeared under the bowl as the water started to freeze. A minute later, she released the spell and reached into the bowl. Looking at the large ice cube she had just created she smiled at her success.

 

"Nice job," Yuuno said, walking up to the table.

 

"Does it always take so much effort to cast a spell?" She asked. It was certainly a lot easier to break the laws of thermodynamics when you didn't have to work out exactly how you were bypassing them.

 

"It gets easier once you get more familiar with a particular spell. It would be a lot easier if you had a Device that could help crunch the numbers for you, but we don't have any to spare."

 

"So those weapons you use are computers?"

 

"Part weapon or tool, part computer, part power channeling implement."

 

"That gives me an idea."

 

Changing into Sailor Mercury, Ami pulled out the Mercury Computer and started typing. Fifteen minutes later, she had entered the necessary formulae into the computer. After discarding the ice cube and refilling the bowl, she recast the spell. As the diagram formed under the bowl, the results of various calculations needed to cast the spell appeared on her visor. Taking advantage of her computer handling the data processing for her, she decided to try something more complicated that simply freezing the water. Activating a subroutine she had created earlier but hadn't tried in her first attempt, she started to shape the freezing effect.

 

Even with the computations being done for her, casting the spell wasn't as easy as using the spells she had relied on as a Senshi. The power she called upon there flowed through her as naturally as breathing. While she hadn't noticed it on her first attempt at casting magic due to her having to focus on the math equations inherent in the spell, the way the power channeled through her body seemed awkward to her, like the power was coming from some source other than where her Senshi powers came from, which wasn't as bountiful or suited to her. But even with that additional handicap, freezing a small bowl of water didn't take that much effort. Ten seconds after starting the spell, she reached into the bowl and pulled out an ice cube shaped like the astrological symbol for the planet Mercury.

 

"I hadn't considered using a normal computer to help with the processing." Yuuno admitted.

 

"If it had been a normal computer, it might not have, or at least not as well. The Mercury Computer is already linked to my powers as a Senshi, so I was able to take advantage of that."

 

"I see. Nice idea."

 

Ami smiled at the compliment as she changed back to her civilian persona. She had proven that she could use Mid-Childan magic and had found a way to make using it practical despite the math-heavy casting process. She would have to think about what she could do with this form of magic now that she had established proof of concept.

 

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Rei knelt in her family shrine, staring into the sacred flame. The young miko had lost track of how many times she had done this over the years between her duties at the shrine and her work as a Senshi. But this time she wasn't trying for a vision. She was attempting to locate a person.

 

"This might not seem to be an important skill, but knowing where to find an enemy is often an essential first step to dealing with them. In some situations you might be dealing with a prospective ambush or an opponent who you wish to take the offensive against." Shamal said.

 

Rei could sympathize with that. The fact that the Senshi had no way of tracking down the Dark Kingdom and taking the fight to them was part of the reason why the war had stretched out as long as it had. Even being able to quickly locate youma without needing to patrol the city for hours or run into them by chance would have been a great help. Shamal actually had been able to locate a few youma the week previous, allowing the Senshi to eliminate them before they even got started on their latest energy-draining operation.

 

"Now, I'm not going to start you out trying to track down an enemy. I've already checked, and I haven't been able to find any youma, and the only other person of interest that we know of out there is actively concealing herself, so I doubt you'd find Precia even if you tried. First I want you to extend your senses to the street outside and tell me how many people are there." She continued.

 

Rei gazed into the flames and entered the familiar mental state she used when seeking a vision. Following the instructions that Shamal had given her, she cast her senses to the street outside the shrine and felt the presence of people travelling down the street. Giving a quick count, she blinked and looked away from the flames.

 

"Seven." She said.

 

"Good. Now for something a little different. Hayate is somewhere in the district. I want you to tell me where she is."

 

Rei turned her gaze back to the fire and began again. This was more difficult. Where before she was gathering general information on a small region that was nearby, this time she was searching a much larger region for a specific person. Concentrating on the image of the young woman she was searching for, she found herself drawn more and more in a specific direction. Finally she found the person she was looking for, and a vision appeared in the flames.

 

"She's inside a store, looking at fabric. It's about two and a half miles away. I can't see anything that really identifies what the shop is, but it's that way." Rei pointed.

 

Shamal checked what direction Rei was pointing with a compass, then made a note on a map of the city. Then she was strangely still for a moment - probably speaking to her commander using some spell. Comparing whatever response she got against the note on the map, Shamal smiled.

 

"Well done, Hino-san. You were a bit off on distance, but you should get more accurate with experience. You're picking this up a lot faster than I expected."

 

"It's not that different from how I've used the sacred fire for visions as a miko. I just never thought of using it in this way before."

 

"Well at the rate you're going, you're likely to end up surpassing my skill in this. Now, here are some other ways to apply this technique..."

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Zoicite snarled in frustration. He had learned of Precia's actions at the hospital from the news. While learning where she was aided in his task of retrieving the crystals that his queen wanted, the manner in which her location was exposed meant that she had long since fled by the time he could act on that information.

 

Despite this setback, he was still able to find where Precia had been hiding since he had last encountered her. Overpowering the police officers who were searching the building was a trivial exercise for a General of the Dark Kingdom. Unfortunately, after scouring the building himself, he could find no trace of the crystals he was looking for anywhere. The runaway sorceress apparently kept them with her.

 

Still, one interesting notion had occurred to Zoicite as a result of this incident. He wasn't sure what Precia needed the life energy she was taking for, but the manner in which she had acquired it was clever. If she hadn't gotten greedy, she could have gotten far more energy without anyone noticing.

 

Zoicite decided to try implementing a similar plan. He would have to have his youma be more choosy about targets - say, a single person a night, from a different hospital each time. That would keep the death rate down to a level that was less likely to be noticed. And the best part was that even if anyone suspected something was going on, nobody would think it was the work of a youma. All the blame for the deaths would be placed on a person who had already been caught red-handed in fatally draining people in a hospital - Precia Testarossa.

 

The thought of an energy-draining scheme that the Senshi were unlikely to disrupt appealed to him. Especially since he was likely to need something that would delay his queen's wrath for failing to have already secured the crystals. He left the building to summon one of his subordinates.

 

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Learning the sword was an interesting experience for Minako. She had been an excellent swordswoman in her previous life, and had been recalling various techniques as her memories of that incarnation returned to her. As she worked with an actual sword in her hands, she found that those memories came more easily to her. She was rapidly regaining the knowledge of how to handle a blade. Unfortunately, the memories of battles fought millennia before didn't bring with them the physical conditioning necessary to use those skills.

 

It was a good thing that she was already in excellent shape from years of athletics and combat. She'd needed it. A great deal of her training was in the form of actual combat, and Signum had apparently been a master for considerably longer than Minako had been alive. Minako had yet to land a single blow on her teacher. Still, she was getting better. The rate at which Signum had been hitting her was starting to go down.

 

That wasn't enough to make it stop completely, she regretfully thought as she fought the urge to let go of the shinai and rub her aching side. She knew full well that relaxing her grip on her weapon would just get her disarmed and hit again. She raised her practice sword to block and overhead blow. The force of the strike just powered through her defense and the blow landed on her shoulder with bruising force.

 

"Angle your blade when parrying!" Signum's voice cracked out. "Deflecting an attack takes less strength than blocking it directly."

 

As Signum withdrew her blade to ready for her next strike, Minako launched her own attack, a series of strikes she had first learned thousands of years before. A swing to the right side of Signum's head was quickly deflected. As the blow slid downwards, Minako jerked back at her opponent for a weak strike at her waist. It was also blocked, but she was expecting that. Spinning around, she used the momentum of her turn to launch a far stronger attack on Signum's other side, hoping to catch her before she got her guard back up. Signum spun her sword, knocking Minako's blade upwards. Planting her feet, Minako stopped her weapon's upward motion and turned it into a downward swing. Signum brought her sword to bear, but instead of guarding her head, she moved to protect her neck. Because of that, Minako's shinai slapped into Signum's forehead with a resounding thwack.

 

Signum stepped back and lowered her weapon. Minako did the same, grateful for the respite and amazed that she had actually managed to get past her teacher's guard.

 

"I've never seen that variation before." Signum admitted.

 

"Variation?"

 

"You took a Belkan combination - one I've never shown you, by the way - and changed the last strike. You hit me because I was expecting you to use the standard form."

 

"No, that was a form I learned back in the Moon Kingdom. I didn't change anything at all."

 

"Hmm. I'd be interested in seeing some of the other forms you learned then at some point," Bringing her sword back up, Signum advanced. "This is the pattern I was expecting you to use."

 

Signum swung her sword, but at a slower speed than usual, as she was simply demonstrating an attack rather than seriously attacking. Minako blocked the first three blows as Signum had, but on the fourth strike, instead of striking at the head, Signum turned the final strike into a thrust, placing the tip of her weapon in the hollow of Minako's throat.

 

So, the reason Minako had managed to gain a single victory over her teacher was because her attack had been similar enough to one that Signum knew that she fooled herself into thinking that she knew what the next move was. Somehow, Minako didn't think she'd be able to pull that off again, at least not with any version of that particular pattern. Bringing her shinai back up to a guard position, the lesson resumed.

 

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Miyuki hadn't been able to spend as much time with her sister as she would have liked. First Nanoha had to spend the early part of her vacation in a totally different city since she couldn't get any peace and quiet at home with the preparations for Kyouya's wedding. Then the wedding battle occurred and Nanoha found herself going back to work ahead of schedule, albeit with friends carefully watching her and willing to sit on her if it looked like she was about to overwork herself again. Between that and Miyuki's work - made heavier than usual due to Kyouya being out of town on his honeymoon - the family had effectively been separated just as much as if Nanoha was still on Mid-Childa. But now Kyouya was back, and so Miyuki had much more free time available to her. So she decided to take the train to Tokyo and spend the day with her sister.

 

Her sister's life had changed far more than she would have expected in the short time since the wedding. Nanoha had never been one for romance, so the revelation that she had acquired and broken up with a boyfriend was rather surprising. Nanoha's developing relationship with Fate wasn't quite so unexpected. Miyuki had actually expected something like that to have happened years ago. Fate's devotion to her friend was rather obvious to anyone who was actually paying attention.

 

As Miyuki tried to find a way to change the subject after a few comments from Nanoha about 'Princess Serenity' made it clear that she found that to be a rather unpleasant topic, two other people walked in, toweling off their faces. She recognized one of them as Signum, but the other was unknown to her.

 

"Takamachi-san." Signum greeted.

 

"Signum-san." She replied.

 

"Minako-chan, this is my sister Miyuki. Miyuki, this is Minako. You met her at the wedding." Nanoha introduced them.

 

Miyuki didn't remember anyone named Minako at the wedding. There also hadn't been very many blondes there. Except... for the girl who showed up during the fight and didn't give her name. Minako was Sailor Venus. Miyuki bowed to the younger girl.

 

"Thank you, Minako-san, for saving my mother's life."

 

Noting the confusion on Minako's face, Nanoha explained the more complicated version of how they were related. Then she turned attention back to her sister.

 

"So tell me, how have things been going back in Uminari?"

 

"Things at the Midori-ya have been very hectic. Ever since the wedding, a lot of people have been turning up. While that's good for business, the new customers are really annoying. Far too many of them ended up being magical girl otaku hoping to see something magical happen. But some of them aren't in that crowd. I'm now dating one of them. Masato..."

 

Minako, who had been about to leave the sisters to themselves, promptly spun around. "Would that be Masato _Sanjonin_? Red hair? Green eyes? Drives a Ferrari Testarossa?" She inquired.

 

"Yes. Why? Do you know him?"

 

"Yes, I know him. Masato Sanjonin is an alias of General Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom."

 

Miyuki's eyes widened in horror. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. "No." She whispered.

 

"I'm afraid that every one of the Senshi has gone up against at one time or another. You aren't the first person he's fooled with that act."

 

"You don't understand," Miyuki croaked. "I invited him to meet the family tomorrow night. I was planning to ask Nanoha to come."

 

Miyuki saw the other three people in the room share looks of concern over that revelation.

 

"I think we need to come up with a plan for what happens tomorrow." Nanoha said.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nephrite smiled as he parked his car outside the Takamachi house. His work was about to pay off.

 

After Jadeite's botched assault on the Moon Princess at her brother's wedding, the home had been warded extensively. There was no way he'd be able to force his way in, not without time and effort that would allow the princess's protectors to arrive and get in the way. Even if he was allowed in, there was a good chance that casting a spell would alert anyone on watch to his presence. The Midori-ya was similarly warded, though the defenses against entry were considerably weaker due to the fact that the owners needed strangers to be able to enter freely if they were going to do any business.

 

Because of this, he needed to be freely welcomed into the house if he wanted to be able to do anything there, and was highly limited to how much he could do before being caught. And this night, he had been invited to meet the family. The entire family, including the Moon Princess. Given the princess's sister's near total uselessness as an intelligence source so far (As he had gotten into her good graces by _not_ being obsessed with her sister the magical girl, there wasn't much he could do to probe for information on that topic), that meant all the effort he had put into courting her was now paying off. All he had to do was get close to his target, which shouldn't be that hard at a family gathering, and then strike her down with his first blow. After that, it didn't matter how many people responded to any alarms that were sounded.

 

"Masato-kun!" Miyuki greeted him enthusiastically.

 

"Thank you for inviting me, Miyuki-chan." He replied.

 

Miyuki welcomed him into the house and led him to the family room, where several people were gathered.

 

"I'd like you to meet the family. Everyone, this is my boyfriend Masato. Masato-kun, this is my father Shirou, my mother Momoko, my brother Kyouya, his wife Shinobu, and my sister Nanoha."

 

Nephrite greeted each of the people in turn, noting that Shirou's arm had yet to fully recover from what Jadeite had done to it, though he had moved from a cast to a sling. But as he approached the Moon Princess, she excused herself and left for the bathroom. No matter. He was going to be in the house for several hours, so a delay of a few minutes wasn't going to change anything. Sooner or later he would get close enough to kill the Moon Princess, at which point the Dark Kingdom would be victorious.

 

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Miyuki hadn't wanted to believe what she had been told about Masato. But it was apparently true. If the Senshi currently using some kind of disguise spell hadn't recognized Masato as Nephrite, she would have stepped outside, where she would have signaled the real Nanoha that they could safely switch places. Instead she had used the danger signal. Right now the Senshi was sending an alert to her sister, and the TSAB/Senshi team currently with her sister would be moving in to set up a barrier to trap Nephrite in one place long enough for them to confront him.

 

Now came the hard part: keeping Nephrite in the house long enough for the trap to be set up, knowing what he really was. Knowing that her first serious relationship in years had been a lie, and that a man she had honestly come to care for had just been using her in a plan to hurt her sister. That he had been involved in the attack that injured her father and ruined her brother's wedding. And most importantly, pretending that she wasn't aware of his duplicity until it was too late for him to do anything about it.

 

The girl disguised as her sister returned, and took a seat outside of striking distance from Nephrite. Normally Miyuki wouldn't think in such terms, but that was before she learned that her boyfriend was an enemy. She felt the weight of the twin kodachi concealed beneath the skirt of her dress and the knives in her sleeves, and cursed both the circumstances that made her believe that going armed to a date was necessary, and the revelation that proved that her belief was justified.

 

Time passed glacially as she waited for the moment when her sister's associates would take the man who had toyed with her heart with every intent of betraying her away. Making casual small talk without letting anything slip was a torturous exercise in self-control. Finally, she made a small mistake.

 

"Would you like some more tea, Ne-Masato-kun?" She asked.

 

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Nephrite was about to accept the offer of more tea when he realized that Miyuki had almost addressed him by his real name. A name he had never once told her. Horror filled his soul as the implications of that one syllable occurred to him. She knew who he was.

 

He thought that he had been leading her along until he could get her to let him get close to the Moon Princess. Instead, Miyuki had been playing him, slowly luring him into a trap, using the one target he couldn't afford to pass up as bait. Truly, the Moon Princess had been born into a formidable family. It had almost worked, and would have had it not been for that one slip.

 

But even if he had been caught, it was too late. He was in the same room as the Moon Princess. And even if the trap would destroy him moments later, he could still take Serenity with her. He might fall this day, but because of his deeds, the Dark Kingdom would be victorious.

 

"So you figured it out, did you." He snarled, then leapt forward towards his mortal enemy. Gathering his power, he readied himself to release it at the princess point blank, but instead of any signs of surprise or fear, the princess rose to meet him. A sudden palm strike to his sternum promptly reversed his momentum, and he felt a jolt of electricity shoot through him with the surprisingly strong blow.

 

As he climbed to his feet, he saw the Moon Princess's appearance change. Her hair darkened to a deeper shade of brown, and the ponytail rotated to the back of her head. Her eyes turned green. Her height grew as the general shape of her body also started to morph, along with her clothes, until he found himself facing a younger girl than he had expected, wearing a familiar and much hated sailor fuku.

 

"I'm sorry," Sailor Jupiter said, "But the princess is in another castle."

 

The Moon Princess wasn't even here? Then all of his work had been for nothing. Still, they wouldn't have been wasting his time with small talk if they had been ready to take him down. He still had some time before the trap they had been leading him into fully sprung. Nephrite was sure that bringing back the head of a Senshi would make up for his failure to eliminate his primary target.

 

Suddenly, Nephrite found himself immobilized. Looking down, he saw that he had been tangled in some fine wire by Miyuki's brother. He was able to snap the wire, but the time it took him to do so allowed Sailor Jupiter to close in. As she punched him in the face, he noted that she had gotten considerably stronger since the last time he had seen her fight. She also hadn't been able to channel her lightning spells into her punches.

 

Realizing that the evening would be very painful for him if he remained on the defensive, he readied a spell. Timing his attack against a high kick, the spell knocked his enemy off her feet and out the window. Smiling coldly, he pursued his opponent.

 

"Did you really think you could best me by yourself, Senshi?" He taunted.

 

A gout of flame lanced across the yard and caught him on the left arm. Calling on his power to block the flames, he turned to see where the attack had come from. Three more people had shown up. One was a man he didn't recognize, in some sort of uniform and carrying a staff. The second was a little girl wearing a dark red dress and a rather silly hat wielding a mallet. The third was someone rather familiar to him.

 

"She doesn't have to." Sailor Mars countered as the reinforcements went on the offensive.

 

An electrically charged punch caught him across the jaw. This was followed by two solid body blows and a snap kick that drove him backwards. Taking advantage of the breathing room that the distance afforded him, Nephrite threw a spell at Jupiter, only for her to dodge out of the way. In her place came a metal orb that smashed into his face at great speed. As blood poured from his broken nose, Nephrite reassessed his priorities.

 

His primary target was long gone. Now that Jupiter was no longer alone, it was unlikely that he could achieve his secondary objective. If he stayed, there was a good chance that he would be beaten, especially if the man with the staff finished whatever spell he was casting. He knew very well how his Queen would react if he returned without _something_ to show for his work. Quickly glancing around, he saw something worth taking.

 

Nephrite launched a quick blast of power at the man, who went down. Turning back towards the house, he made a dash towards his target of opportunity. A bolt of lightning and a burst of flame struck him from behind. He winced in pain as the spells breached his weakening defenses. He couldn't take much more of this. But fortunately he didn't have to. The Senshi didn't have enough time to cast any more spells before he got to what he was after.

 

He reached through the ruined window and grabbed Miyuki Takamachi by the throat. He hadn't been able to get much intelligence out of her while posing as Masato Sanjonin, but that was because he needed to maintain his cover. With that no longer an issue, it wouldn't be too hard to get her to tell him everything she knew about the Moon Princess and her allies. She could also be used as a source of life energy.

 

Jadeite had been able to break a man's arm with one hand. Everyone present knew this, and froze as Nephrite lifted his hostage from the ground, in case he decided to do the same thing to her neck. A part of him wanted to gloat over his success, but he knew that every moment he remained he gave his enemies a chance to find an opening. Instead, he knocked his hostage into the wall. Slinging the now unconscious woman over his shoulder, he bolted for the exit. With the girl's body draped across his back, the Senshi and their ally were unable to find a place to attack him without risking the hostage's safety. Passing outside the wards placed on the estate, he stopped at his car and cast the spell that would return him to the Dark Kingdom. He laughed as he faded from sight.

 

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A/N: It's not mentioned in MGLN, but according to the original source material, Miyuki is technically Nanoha's cousin, not sister. Her mother is Nanoha's Aunt Misato, who left her child in her brother's care while she searched for the terrorist that bombed the Fuwa clan gathering, killing most of the family, including her husband. Shiro eventually adopted his niece and raised her as his own.


	13. Strike, Scapegoat, Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

 

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 12

Strike, Scapegoat, Sacrifice

 

It was funny how the flow of time seemed to change during a battle. From the perspective of the people fighting it, the battle with Nephrite had lasted an eternity. But from the objective viewpoint of a clock, a mere thirty seconds had passed between the arrival of Sailor Jupiter's reinforcements and Nephrite's retreat, and the battle as a whole took barely over a minute. But even though Nephrite had failed to achieve his primary goal, everyone there knew that he had won that round.

 

Vita cursed under her breath. "Why wasn't there a barrier? It should have been up within moments of our arrival!" She demanded.

 

A moan passed through the air. "The wards..." All eyes turned to the badly wounded form of Corporal Netia, who had been the one assigned to set up the barrier. Vita understood what he was trying to say. The wards that had been placed on the household to prevent anyone from using a transport spell to break in had interfered with his efforts cast the barrier spell. If they'd had more time, it probably wouldn't have mattered, but unfortunately they hadn't.

 

They should have thought of that. They should have brought more people in the event that the battle spread outdoors rather than limiting the number of combatants to those that could fight in a small room without getting in each other's way. They really should have tagged the whole household with tracking spells, just in case someone got taken captive. Unfortunately, they hadn't.

 

"Mars!" Vita barked. "Is there any way you can track where they went?"

 

Sailor Mars held out her hand, palm upward. A ball of flame formed in her hand. Time passed slowly as she gazed into the flame. Finally she shook her head.

 

"Nothing." Mars sighed. "I can't find a single trace of them."

 

Vita grimaced. This night had definitely ended in defeat.

 

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Miyuki's eyes opened slowly. The last she remembered, she had been grabbed by the throat by Mas-Nephrite. Then her head had struck something and she had blacked out.

 

Looking around as much as she could without moving her head, she could see that she was in a throne room of sorts. Standing around the hall were more of the creatures that had attacked her brother's wedding. At the far side of the room sat a woman in a black dress with red hair.

 

"I see that you have returned, my General. How has your mission fared?" The woman demanded imperiously.

 

From her sprawled position on the floor, Miyuki could not see Nephrite, but she could hear him kneel down next to her.

 

"I regret to inform you that the Moon Princess managed to evade the trap that I had planned for her. But the Dark Kingdom is still victorious." He announced. He grabbed Miyuki by the back of her dress and lifted her up. She gasped involuntarily as she was summarily forced to her feet, ending the illusion she had presented that she was still unconscious. But as she was lifted, she felt the familiar shapes of her kodachi moving under the skirt of her gown. A slight flexing of her wrists revealed that her knives were still present as well. Nephrite had taken her to his leader without having first searched her for weapons. That gave her an opportunity.

 

She was now in the same room as the woman who tried to kill her sister, and she had her weapons at hand. There was no telling if such a chance would happen again. If she moved quickly she could eliminate the threat to her family. There was a chance that she wouldn't survive the battle, but Miyuki doubted that they had any intention of keeping her alive for long. If she was going to die this day, then she would die knowing that her family was safe because of her.

 

"Your Majesty, I present to you Miyuki Takamachi, elder sister of the Moon Princess." Nephrite proclaimed. "On your knees before Her Majesty Queen Beryl, Ruler of the Dark Kingdom and soon of your pathetic world as well." He commanded as he disdainfully dropped Miyuki back on the floor.

 

Miyuki slowly rose from the floor, and obediently arranged her body into a kneeling position. There was no point in disobeying. After all, a kneeling position was fairly close to the starting position for a sprint.

 

Miyuki sprung from the ground and started running towards Beryl. She would only have once shot at this, so she would have to make it count. A deliberate snap of her wrists and a throwing knife fell into each hand. Each was hurled with deadly precision at the self-styled queen.  


Both knives were stopped by an unseen barrier before they could strike. The surprise on Beryl's face at the sudden charge twisted into rage as she realized what was happening.

 

"Seize her!" She demanded. The youma lining the throne room all eagerly launched themselves at the young woman attacking their ruler.

 

Miyuki knew that she had little chance of defeating the youma. She knew from personal experience that any wound she inflicted on one of them with her non-magical swords would heal rapidly. Unless she found some way of killing them instantly (Which wasn't likely), they would recover and return to the fight. But just because she couldn't _kill_ them with the weapons she had on hand didn't mean she couldn't _hurt_ them. And the basic humanoid shape of the youma meant that there were weak points inherent in their anatomy that would allow her to temporarily cripple them with a single stroke. Drawing her swords, Miyuki prepared to face her opponents.

 

The first one clawed at her with a high swing. She ducked under it and slashed its hamstring, causing it to drop to the floor. Turning her attention to the other youma, she saw that they were coming at her from all angles. That was bad - for them. She was the only person on her side present. Anyone she hit was an enemy. They had to worry about striking an ally, she didn't. So long as she kept moving, the fact that she was outnumbered actually worked in her favor.

 

Diving into the middle of the fray, Miyuki weaved between her opponents, stabbing at joints and slashing at muscle groups in limbs. The youma did their best to attack their rapidly moving target, but in the close press they were in, most of the time they hit each other. And while Miyuki's blades couldn't inflict permanent harm on a youma, another youma most certainly could. But she wasn't able to dodge everything. One managed to claw at her face before she could get clear. Another one, which she had temporarily rendered unable to stand, bit her in the leg. She kicked it away and kept fighting.

 

Eventually Miyuki found herself standing alone, all of the youma either slain by each other's hands or temporarily unable to stand. A quick glance around to catch her bearings caught a glimpse of Nephrite. His impeccable suit was battered, his face was bloody, his eyes were blackened, and his nose was crooked. Apparently Nanoha's friends had done a number to him before he managed to kidnap her. Good.

 

Miyuki could see a ball of energy forming in Nephrite's hand. Miyuki threw herself to the side, hoping that his attacks couldn't redirect themselves in midflight like Fate and Nanoha's could. As the spell shot past the space where her abdomen had just been, the heat of its passage scorched through her dress, lightly burning her hip. Miyuki didn't want to think about how much worse it would have been had it actually hit her. Rolling back to her feet, she turned to Beryl and made a desperate charge.

 

Moving on pure instinct, Miyuki jerked to one side or the other as she ran, narrowly dodging Nephrite's attempts to take her down, forcing herself to ignore the burns she was acquiring from the near misses and the pain in her leg. Reaching the dais on which Beryl's throne lay, she crouched as one final shot passed above her, flying past her towards the ruler of the Dark Kingdom. As Beryl defended herself against the accidental attack from her own general, Miyuki struck, left blade in a low thrust to the belly, right blade in a vertical slice to cut the body open from navel to throat.

 

It almost worked. Just as her swords were about to connect, a wave of force struck Miyuki and hurled her backwards. Miyuki's swords fell from her hands as she flew backwards across the throne room. Her last thought before her head struck the floor with enough force to knock her unconscious was to curse her luck. She had been so close...

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Vita's heart was heavy as she returned to base. Less than a year before, she had gotten too focused on the fight in front of her to remember to watch her partner's back, and Nanoha had been forced to spend six months in the hospital as a direct result of that mistake. And now she had failed her again.

 

Vita tried to delay the moment she had to admit her failure as long as she could. But there was only so long she could stretch out turning Corporal Netia over to Shamal's care, and she couldn't think of anything else that would plausibly allow her to defer making her report. Shuffling into the room where Hayate and Nanoha were waiting, she took a deep breath and prepared to tell them the bad news.

 

"The mission was a failure." Vita confessed, unable to bring herself to look either of them in the eye. "The target noticed the trap before most of the personnel were in position, and the existing wards on the residence interfered with our efforts to establish a barrier. We were able to wound the target, but he was able to seize a hostage and make his escape after seriously injuring Corporal Netia."

 

"I'm sorry, Nanoha!" She sobbed. "He kidnapped your sister! There's wasn't anything we could do to stop him. He moved too fast, and once he grabbed her, we couldn't do anything without risking Miyuki getting hurt. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..."

 

Vita stopped as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.  
  
"It's alright Vita-chan. It wasn't your fault."  
  
"But-" Vita started but halted as she looked up. Nanoha wasn't looking down at her.  
  
"I wasn't your fault. It was Nephirite who took Miyuki. And it was Beryl who sent him. And it's them that are probably hurting Miyuki right now." she spoke in the same calm voice she always used. But it wasn't the same.  
  
"But we'll get her back Vita-chan. We'll save her." Vita noticed that her other hand was now pulled into a fist. And it was shaking.  
  
"And they will. Not. Hurt. Anyone. Else."  
  
As Vita looked up to Nanoha's eyes, she couldn't help the cold pit forming in her stomach. The same cold she had felt when she had seen those eyes leveled at her from a young girl, surrounded by fire. She remembered what she had called the girl back then...  
  
"I'm going to make sure of it."

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nephrite knew that failing to return with the Moon Princess's head would displease his queen. That was why he had brought back a prisoner, to show that he had still achieved something of worth. Then his prisoner had turned out to be armed and made an attempt of the Queen's life, an attempt that came within inches of succeeding. He knew that Beryl's wrath over this incident would be severe, but he didn't expect to her order Kunzite to throw him in chains and drag him to a cell.

 

Now as he found himself with his life in ruins, he found himself wondering where his brilliant plan had gone wrong. What had he done that had allowed the Moon Princess to figure out his trap? Had it not been for a chance slip of the tongue, he would have been trapped and destroyed at the Takamachi residence. Even the minor victory he achieved there was turned against him, as his prisoner used it as an opportunity to strike at an even more important figure in the Dark Kingdom. Clearly the Moon Princess was a far more devious opponent than he had originally thought.

 

Beryl swept into his cell. Nephrite was shocked to see a narrow cut, a little smaller than the length of his thumb, marring her face just below her left eye. The wound must have been inflicted as she had repelled her attacked. Nephrite shuddered to think how close his queen had come to death.

 

"So, my 'faithful' General," Beryl sneered, "What did the Moon Princess promise you in exchange for your betrayal?"

 

"Your M-Majesty, I have always been loyal to you..." Nephrite stammered.

 

" _Don't lie to me!_ The reason it took you so long to track down the Moon Princess was because you sold your services to her and waited until a time of her choosing to let me know of her whereabouts. Then you sent Jadeite into a trap. Now you bring an armed assassin into my throne room. You didn't even attempt to stop her before she had taken out all of the youma, and when you finally intervened, you just _happened_ to miss every shot up until the moment you attacked _me_ , giving her the opening she needed to attack me. You let the princess's agents rough you up before bringing in her assassin, didn't you?

 

"But your treason has failed. I have both you and your partner. And you will both tell me everything you know about the Moon Princess as you feel my displeasure in full measure."

 

Nephrite tried to protest that he had never knowingly acted against his queen, but Beryl wasn't interested in his excuses. Within moments, his world erupted in endless pain.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hotaru's world had been changing rapidly lately. One day she was a girl with health problems who was disliked by everyone at school because she had a strange ability. Then she met a girl half her age who told her that her power didn't make her a freak, it made her a mage, and that there were others like her. Now the friend that she thought was half her age turned out to be three times older than she was, with a teenaged sister who happened to be one of the world's first real-life magical girls. A teenaged _younger_ sister, which just made things stranger. Now, as her friend was taking her to her sister's home, Hotaru wondered what new surprises were in store for her.

 

Quite a few, it seemed. Upon knocking on the door to Fate's home, she herself greeted by a floating girl the size of a doll.

 

"Hello. Who are you?" The doll asked.

 

Hotaru was too busy gaping in shock to answer. Fortunately another voice intervened.

 

"You're Hotaru, right? Let her in Rein, she's expected." Alicia nodded dumbly, wondering where the other voice was coming from. She couldn't see anyone in the room, just the floating girl and a puppy. Then the puppy opened it's mouth.

 

"My name's Aruf. I'll let Alicia know you're here." The dog padded off, and returned with Alicia.

 

"Hotaru! You came!" Alicia shouted gladly.

 

"T-The dog... talked." Hotaru stammered.

 

"Yup! Aruf's my sister's familiar. She made her when she was seven. Isn't that impressive? I don't think that I'll be good enough at magic to make a familiar a year from now."

 

Floating miniature girls. Talking pets. And Alicia was acting as if this kind of thing was totally normal. Hotaru knew that growing up with magic as an everyday part of one's life would make Alicia's perspective different, but there were times it felt as if her friend was from a totally different world.

 

"Let me show you around. Everyone's a little busy at the moment, so I'll have to introduce you to the others later." With that, Hotaru was taken on a quick tour of her friend's new home. Most of the rooms seemed fairly normal, apart from the fact that there were computers everywhere. Then she was taken into a room where a woman was watching a screen and commenting on what she was watching. Displayed on the screen was something that Hotaru had never expected to see in person.

 

The Sailor Senshi. The girls who had long been considered an urban legend were apparently being shown on a live video feed. They were throwing spells at objects that were passing by them, and dodging attacks being thrown at them.

 

After that activity continued for several minutes, the woman addressed the screen. "Okay, that's enough. Good work, everyone." She then turned to face her visitors. Despite her smiling face, Hotaru could tell that she was worried about something. "You must be Hotaru. Alicia said you'd be coming. I'm Nanoha."

 

"Were those really the Sailor Senshi?" Hotaru asked hesitantly.

 

Nanoha nodded. "I've been training them ever since they contacted me shortly after my brother's wedding."

 

"Training them."

 

"That's what I do for a living. I train mages. Normally I'd be teaching them in person, but since Shamal insists that I can't use any magic at the moment, I have to settle for just supervising."

 

"Do you think you could teach me?"

 

Nanoha's face grew concerned. "Are you sure you want to go into this kind of work? It's very dangerous. I still haven't fully recovered from injuries I received more than half a year ago."

 

"The only thing I can do with my magic is heal. I want to be a nurse when I grow up."

 

Nanoha relaxed. "I can't help you with that - I don't know much about healing magic myself - but I know someone who can. Let me introduce you to Shamal."

 

Shamal was a blonde who was holding a strange device consisting of rings and thin chains hanging from one hand over an injured man.

 

"What happened to him?" Hotaru asked.

 

"Corporal Netia was in a battle last night. The Dark General we were hoping to trap wounded him before escaping. What's worse, he kidnapped my sister while he was making his escape." Hotaru noticed that one of Nanoha's hands clenched as she said that.

 

No wonder Nanoha had wanted Hotaru to be sure about whether or not she really wanted to be a mage. It seemed that being a magical girl wasn't all dramatic speeches and flashy battles like it was portrayed on TV.

 

Shamal eventually finished what she was doing with the wounded man and turned her attention to the visitors.

 

"He's past the worst of it, but I'm afraid he'll be out of action for quite some time." She reported.

 

"Shamal, this is Alicia's friend Hotaru. She's interested in learning more about healing magic." Nanoha said.

 

"Really? What kind of healing spells do you know right now?"

 

"I don't really know any spells. I just call on my power and I heal people. Most of the time I've just been using it on cuts, but there was this one time I used it on Alicia's mother when she started coughing up blood, and she was able to breathe easily after that."

 

Shamal gaped. "You're telling me that you only have a spell you invented yourself, with no understanding of what you were doing, and you were able to use it to treat a woman with terminal lung cancer? Even if what you did was just a temporary remedy rather than an actual cure, that's amazing!"

 

"Really?" Hotaru had been mocked about her healing powers for as long as she had them. Even after finally finding people who didn't see them as strange, she never thought that the one thing she'd ever been able to do with them would impress a professional magical healer.

 

"I'd like to see this spell of yours in action. Try casting it on Nanoha's back. Do it as slowly as you can, and if I tell you to stop, I want you to do so immediately, okay?"

 

Hotaru obediently started trying to heal Nanoha's back. This was the first time she'd ever really tried to limit how much effort she put into healing. Normally, she just tried to heal the injuries before her as best as she could until they were gone. It was harder than she thought it would be. After one very long minute, Shamal indicated that she could stop.

 

"Interesting. I've never seen any healing spell quite like it before. It's nothing like any medical spell in the Belkan school, or any other school I've heard of. How are you feeling, Nanoha?" Shamal asked.

 

"I feel... great. It's like I've suddenly become lighter. Almost as if the sluggishness I was feeling in the days before I was injured was starting to reverse."

 

"But that would mean..." Shamal brought out the collection of rings and chains again. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Sankt Kaiser..."

 

"What is it?"

 

"Your Linker Core has regenerated significantly since I last checked you three days ago. Far more than could possibly happen naturally, given how badly you had abused it."

 

"Um... what does that mean?" Hotaru inquired.

 

"Linker Cores are sort of like a muscle that mages use whenever they cast a magic spell. Nanoha overstrained hers shortly before she injured her back. Up until now, I didn't think it was possible for a Linker Core to be healed by anything other than time. Your little spell has done two things which all medical thaumaturges had previously thought impossible."

 

Shamal waved her strange jewelry over Hotaru. Her eyes got even wider.

 

"Triple S." She breathed.

 

"Are you serious?" Nanoha asked.

 

"Quite serious. Hotaru here has SSS potential."

 

"What does that mean?" Alicia wondered.

 

"It means that if you work hard, there will come a day when Hayate is no longer the most powerful mage alive." Nanoha said.

 

"You've got to be joking." Hotaru said. For years most everyone she knew treated her as a freak, and now she was being told she was some kind of super-prodigy? This couldn't be real.

 

"I'm not joking. It's a good thing that you expressed your magic with healing rather than something destructive, or you might have ended up blowing up the planet." Shamal said. Turning to Nanoha, she asked, "What is it with this world? Everyone either has no magic to speak of, or they threaten to blow the scale. Is there something in the water here?"

 

Something in the way Shamal talked gave Hotaru the impression that her comment about destroying the world wasn't an exaggeration. If that was the case, then she was glad that she didn't have the slightest idea as to how to use her magic to hurt people.

 

Hotaru turned to Alicia. At least, she tried to. The lack of feeling in her right foot had started to spread into her left. Since she had gotten into the habit of favoring that foot because it wasn't paralyzed like her right foot was, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

 

"Hotaru! Are you alright?" Alicia gasped.

 

"I'm... alright," Hotaru said. "This isn't the first time this has happened."

 

"And why have you been falling down recently, Hotaru?" Nanoha asked. "There wasn't anything for you to trip on."

 

Hotaru hesitated. She hadn't discussed what had been happening to her with anyone before. Her father hadn't been available, she hated her father's assistant Kaori, and she hadn't wanted to worry Alicia. For all she knew it was just a malfunction in her prosthetics. But there was a doctor here, who might be able to help her.

 

"For some reason, my right foot just doesn't move or feel anything anymore. And now, all of a sudden, my left foot is starting to act like that as well."

 

Nanoha and Shamal exchanged shocked glances.

 

"You don't think it could be like..." Nanoha began.

 

Shamal had her tool out again. "What had happed to Hayate." She confirmed.

 

"What was that?" Alicia asked. Was there some kind of bizarre medical condition that only affected abnormally powerful mages?

 

"Hayate had suffered from something that looked like this when I first met her." Nanoha explained. "If we're right, there's something that is feeding off of Hotaru's Linker Core like the book was feeding off of Hayate's. The paralysis is a side effect, that will gradually spread through her body. If it reaches her heart or lungs..."

 

Hotaru winced.

 

"But surely there's something you can do to help her!" Alicia protested. "After all, Hayate's still around, and she doesn't have any trouble walking."

 

Shamal nodded gravely. "It should be possible to sever the connection between Hotaru and whatever is causing this. If that happens, she should make a full recovery. Hopefully, it won't be as persistent as what was affected Hayate was. We had to blow that thing up to get rid of it.

 

"I'll need to look up some of my old notes from when Hayate was recovering to figure out how to proceed. In the meantime, Hotaru, tell your parents about the cause of your health problem. I'll need their permission to proceed with removing the parasite. Don't use your magic until further notice. It will only accelerate the spread of the paralysis."

 

As Shamal looked around her workroom for something that Hotaru could use as a cane, Hotaru was forced to concede that meeting Alicia had changed her life far more than she had ever thought possible, even from the perspective she had held that very morning.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Miyuki was woken up by two figures who roughly grabbed her and started dragging her down a hallway. Her head pounded as she tried to get her eyes to focus. Eventually her blurred vision started to clear as they reached a large room.

 

This was not the throne room that she had woken in before. It was a workroom, where Miyuki could see youma building things that looked like the robots that had attacked Kyouya's wedding. As she entered the room she noticed several youma started gathering around her. Clearly they had no intention of letting her make another attempt at attacking them, a notion that was reinforced when Miyuki realized that _this_ time they had made certain to search her for weapons before they had hauled her wherever she was at the moment.

 

Beryl was observing the construction of the drones. When she noticed the arrival of her prisoner, she swept across the room to address Miyuki, who remained firmly held by her guards to prevent her from trying to assassinate their liege again. The leader of the youma greeted her captive with a vicious slap.

 

"You see what you've done to me, you wretched girl?" She snarled, tracing one impractically long fingernail down a rather shallow cut near her left eye. "You've marred my perfect face! How can I face my darling Endymion looking like this?"

 

Privately, Miyuki thought that a cut that shallow might not scar at all, and even if it did it would be easily concealable with a little makeup. The injuries that she had taken to her own face were probably a lot worse, and she doubted that they would be as hideously disfiguring as Beryl was treating her minor wound. She doubted that such a minor injury would have any impact on Beryl's love life. At least, not compared to the fact that she was willing to send assassins after any perceived rivals.

 

"You will pay for that. Just as your precious sister will pay for stealing Endymion from me. I don't know what kind of spell she used to ensnare him, but I have no doubt that it will die with her."

 

"You do realize that Nanoha dumped that guy after the first date, right?" Miyuki cut in.

 

"What!" Beryl's eyes widened in shock.

 

"If it wasn't for the whole lovers in a past life thing, I doubt he'd have gotten that far. She's not interested in men.

 

"What's more, up until you decided to do your best to ruin my brother's wedding, we'd never heard of _either_ of you. If you'd just left us alone, Nanoha would never gotten involved in this petty little war of yours."

 

Beryl froze as she tried to wrap her mind around the notion that she had made a mistake. Miyuki wasn't entirely surprised when she failed.

 

"That doesn't change the fact that your sister killed my general, and that you attacked and disfigured me." She countered, conveniently ignoring that neither of those events would have happened had it not been for Beryl's actions. "And now you are going to tell me everything you know about your sister and her Senshi."

 

"You want to know about my sister? Fine. She's got more experience than all of the Senshi _combined_ , and enough power to flatten a city. Some of her friends are even stronger. And you just did something guaranteed to make her mad. Sometime very, very soon, you will learn exactly why Vita dubbed my sister the White Devil, and if you're really lucky, your end will come as quickly as the guy you sent to break my father's arm did."

 

Beryl laughed. "You think to threaten me? You don't seem to understand the power of the Dark Kingdom. There is absolutely nothing your dear sister can possibly do to stop the revival of Metallia. I doubt she'll even live long enough to see its return. Because you're going to tell me exactly how to destroy her."

 

There really wasn't much Miyuki could have told Beryl about Nanoha's style of magic, even if she had wanted to. The math behind the spells Nanoha was using back when she was nine had gone completely over her head the one time she had tried explaining how it worked to her family, and Miyuki doubted that her sister had gone into simpler spells in the years that followed. Then she realized that she did know two things that Beryl would want to know. She knew the given name of Sailor Venus, and the address her sister was staying at.

 

Pain erupted in Miyuki's body when Beryl realized that she had no intention of talking. The session seemed to go on for an eternity, with Beryl asking questions, many of which Miyuki didn't know that answers to in the first place. And whenever Miyuki didn't answer, she was wracked with another wave of agony. Finally, Beryl tired of her prisoner's endless screaming and ordered Miyuki returned to her cell.

 

As Miyuki passed one of the work tables, she stumbled and fell, knocking the contents of the table on the floor as she did so. Slowly rising to her feet, she limped painfully along with the guards taking her away, with one hand pressed to her injured leg. The guards paid no attention to her battered state as they threw her back into the cell she had woken in.

 

As the door locked behind her, Miyuki stopped holding her leg. A thin metal rod that she had knocked off the work table and slipped under her skirt when she had fallen down dropped to the floor. Picking it up, she experimentally attempted to flex it. It was strong enough to use as a weapon.

 

But that would have to wait for another time. She had no idea how to get out of the prison, or even where in the world her prison was. A reckless escape attempt would accomplish nothing. On top of that, she had taken two solid blows to the head recently, and now that the adrenaline rush from her attempt on Beryl was gone, she didn't think she would be able to run on her injured leg. She wasn't exactly in fighting trim. No, right now, she needed to rest and heal, and wait for the proper opportunity.

 

After hiding her weapon beneath the rather slim mattress, Miyuki started to rip up her dress to make bandages.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Ami was not in a good mood. Given how the day had gone, this shouldn't have been the case. Yuuno had managed to find a book in the archives recovered from the Moon Palace that described the nature of Senshi magic. Even the quick browse through it she had managed so far had provided enough information that she now had a basic understanding of how her powers actually worked. With that, she could presumably do more than just use the handful of spells that she could remember from her previous incarnation. On top of that, the Senshi as a whole had managed to get through the rubber ball exercise without getting turned into an enormous mass of bruises. But neither of these could counter the main issue that was weighing in her mind.

 

Her mother had yet to regain consciousness. Nobody had the slightest idea as to how to treat her other than to hope she would eventually wake up. There was the hope of finding some possible treatment in one of the tomes taken from the Moon Palace, but Yuuno had just barely finished a basic categorization of all the books. There was no telling at this point which, if any, of the books categorized under "Magic" or "Medicine" had anything that would work.

 

In addition to the fact that Ami had no idea if or when she could speak to her mother again, the situation had left her without a legal guardian. She hadn't spoken to her father in years. The last time she had actually seen him was several months before the divorce papers arrived in the mail. Because of that, Ami had no idea what would happen to her once the authorities realized that.

 

She was still brooding about her mother's condition and her own probably fate when she followed her instructors of the day back to the TSAB's base to collect the book on Senshi magic for further study. On her way out, she ran into someone she really didn't want to meet.

 

Alicia Testarossa. The reason why a deranged sorceress had decided to start lethally draining the life out of people. The reason why her mother was currently in a coma. Ami's fists clenched as she looked at the girl who had completely derailed her life just by existing.

 

She seemed so sweet. So innocent. As if she was totally unaware of all the havoc that she had caused. As if three people weren't dead because of her. It made Ami angry just to think about it. Finally Ami head the girl make a comment about her mother's actions and couldn't hold it in anymore.

 

"You want to know what your mother was doing?" She snapped. "She was sucking the life out of people, and giving it to you. Every breath you take was stolen from the people she killed. _That's_ what she was doing."

 

Everyone in the room stared in shock at Ami's outburst. She ignored them as she stormed out of the base and headed home.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fate had been trying to avoid discussing her mother's criminal actions around Alicia. She just hadn't been able to come up with a way to break the news about Alicia's condition to her gently. There wasn't really a good method to explain to a six year old child that she was terminally ill and that she would have died long ago if it weren't for the murderous actions of a women she only knew of as a loving mother. Unfortunately, after Mizuno-san's outburst, it was no longer possible to delay that conversation.

 

"W-Was she telling the truth, imouto?" Alicia sobbed, her eyes welling up with tears. It was clear that she was desperately hoping that what she had heard was a lie.

 

Fate sighed. She had hoped this wouldn't be necessary, but she didn't really have a choice. "You were very badly hurt when Mother's project went critical." She explained. "Everyone other than her gave you up for dead. She devoted the rest of her life to finding a way to revive you, not caring if some of the things she tried were illegal.

 

"From what we can tell, what she came up with was to drain energy from other people and give it to you. Apparently she drained so much that some of the people that she did it to died. The reason that that girl was so harsh in telling you about it is that her mother was one of the people that Mother attacked."

 

"But if she got me to wake up earlier, why did I have to go to the hospital? Why did she need to attack those people?"

 

"She was able to wake you up, but she couldn't fix what was wrong with you. She needed more energy to keep you alive."

 

"Then, if she doesn't keep stealing energy, I'm... going to die?"

 

"I'm sorry, Alicia."

 

Alicia threw herself into her sister's arms. "I don't want to have to kill anyone, but I don't want to die! What do I do, imouto? What do I do?" She wailed.

 

Fate cradled her sister in her arms. She wished that she knew the answer to that herself.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Precia's life had been falling apart. Her daughter was slowly dying. On top of that, she had been taken from her and was now almost certainly in the hands of the people who had done their utmost to ensure that Alicia would never have been revived in the first place. And both the local police and the TSAB were looking for her.

 

The crimes that the authorities were charging her with were ludicrous. Murder? What did the lives of a few nobodies from a backwater planet that hadn't even discovered formal thaumaturgy yet matter, especially people who were likely to die soon anyway? Fleeing police custody? How could taking her sick child away from the people who were willing to let her die possibly be a crime? But the one that angered her the most was the child abuse. How could she possibly be considered a child abuser? The only children she had spent any time around in decades were Alicia and her friend Hotaru, and she hadn't done anything to hurt them.

 

She had to get to Alicia. If Alicia remained in the hands of the TSAB they were almost certain to allow her beloved child to die. She was certain that her daughter would understand what she had been doing in the hospital if she could only get the chance to explain. Once that was done, Precia could take her child and flee to some other world. It would require Alicia to leave her first friend behind, but it was the only way to ensure her safety.

 

Unfortunately, she couldn't just scry her daughter out. The TSAB had undoubtedly warded their facility to guard against scrying spells just as Precia had taken similar precautions to keep them from tracking her down.

 

Her only real hope of finding Alicia before she ran out of time was the possibility that she would still be attending school. There was the risk that her enemies would also be watching the school, but she didn't have any other choice. She would just have to hope that she could overpower any opposition and rescue her daughter before reinforcements could arrive.

 

Watching the Mugen Gakuen campus as she waited for the school day to end, Precia realized that her suspicions were correct. A vehicle with the markings of the local police department stopped near the campus, ostensibly to coordinate the traffic difficulties caused by a large number of people trying to leave at the same time while other people were trying to use the road, but obviously to watch for her. And approaching the school she could make out the person the TSAB had sent to watch for her.

 

Fate. The clone that she had created to help her revive Alicia and had ultimately turned out to be completely useless in that regard. She had grown considerably in the years since they had last met, but Precia recognized her instantly. Between the effort it had taken to create her and the time having her trained for her ultimate purpose, she had wasted decades on that wretched creature, and it had all been for nothing. Now the girl had moved from simply being incapable of helping Precia achieve her goals to actively working against her creator.

 

Frowning at the sight of her treacherous creation, Precia went to retrieve her daughter.

 

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Things had gotten awkward at school for Alicia. Her mother had been caught red-handed in an act of murder, and the details that had been made public had spread across the school. Not many people wanted to associate with the child of a criminal. The only person who hadn't changed her behavior towards Alicia because of that incident was actually the first person to learn of it. Hotaru, Alicia's first and only real friend at school.

 

That didn't disturb Alicia quite as much as the reason _why_ her mother had killed those people. If her mother hadn't done it, she would be dead right now. And those stolen lives didn't really save her life, they just bought her some more time. Sooner or later she would start to fade.

 

And that was the problem. Her mother's method of dealing with the problem wasn't really a solution, it was just a way of delaying the problem at a terrible cost. Was she really willing to accept that cost to stay alive now that she knew of it? Having looked into the eyes of one person who had nearly lost family because of her mother's deeds, Alicia didn't think she was.

 

The day ended, and everyone who had plans for the afternoon that didn't involve the school facilities started to file out of the building. In the distance, Alicia could see the usual police officer dealing with the typical traffic congestion caused by the end-of-school-day routine. Her sister would be arriving to pick her up soon.

 

A thunderclap split the air and the policeman went flying. Most of the students leaving the school scattered, screaming in terror. As the crowd dispersed, Alicia saw a figure drift down from the roof of the building across the street and head towards her.

 

"Alicia, dear. It's time to come home." Her mother said entreatingly.

 

Alicia started backing away. For all that the woman before her was her mother, all that Alicia could feel was fear. Her mother had just attacked a man for no reason. The last time they had met, she had witnessed her mother suck the life out of a woman and laugh as she did so. Her mother had changed in the decades that she had slept, and the person she had become scared her.

 

Suddenly, a black form cut through the air between them, and Alicia saw her sister standing in the air in front of their mother, her Device at the ready.

 

"That's far enough." Fate said.

 

"You stand against me? I made you, you wretched girl!" Their mother snarled.

 

Even from behind, Alicia could see her sister flinch. In that moment, their mother raised her staff. Lightning crackled out from it, striking Fate and forcing her to the ground. The staff then shifted into a whip, which lashed out at Fate. Alicia watched with horror as her mother whipped her sister again and again. As she saw Fate stumble backwards, her body covered in welts and cuts, Alicia knew she had to do something. Running towards the battle, she placed herself between her sister and her mother.

 

"Get out of the way Alicia." Her mother commanded in a cold voice that she had _never_ addressed Alicia in in her entire life.

 

"No, Mother." Alicia insisted. "I can't let you go on hurting my sister."

 

"Your sister?" Her mother laughed. "What has Fate been telling you? That _thing_ is not your sister. Fate isn't even a person. What you are protecting is nothing more than a construct I created in your image. A tool, which I discarded like the worthless trash it was the moment it proved incapable of serving the purpose for which I built it.

 

"Now just step aside so I can dispose of this useless creation of mine once and for all."

 

Alicia looked at her mother. At the crackling ball of energy she was forming. At way the hatred twisting her features made her almost unrecognizable to her. And she slowly shook her head.

 

" _You dare to disobey your mother? You wretched little child!_ " Her mother screamed, throwing the spell at her.

 

Alicia cried out in pain as the spell hurled her away from Fate. She had never hurt so much in her entire life. Blinking back tears, she was forced to watch, unable to do anything as her mother again prepared to murder her younger daughter in cold blood.

 

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Fate couldn't believe what she had just seen. She wiped the blood leaking from a cut on her forehead away from her eyes, but the image before her didn't change. Her mother had just attacked Alicia. And not just a mild smack to discipline an unruly child, that had been a serious assault.

 

Fate had never wanted to believe that her mother was a bad person. Even though all she had received from the woman was pain and scorn, Fate had tried to see the good in her, the smiling woman she saw in Alicia's memories. Precia Testarossa wasn't an evil woman, she was just a loving mother driven to desperation by the loss of her beloved daughter, to the point where she didn't care about what consequences her actions brought on others so long as Alicia was safe. At least, that was what she had thought.

 

But that was before this latest action. There was no way that the theory that Fate had constructed for her mother's earlier actions could be reconciled with her present ones. There was no longer any was for Fate to view her mother's deeds as the monstrous acts that they were. Precia Testarossa was no longer a caring woman gone mad with grief. She was a criminal who needed to be stopped.

 

"Bardiche." Fate snapped.

 

"Yes, Sir. Zamber Form. Sonic mode." Her device responded.

 

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The attack was sudden. One moment her failed creation was on the ground holding a scythe, and the next she was right in front of her, trying to cut her in half with a sword that was nearly as tall as she was. Precia was barely able to shift her device to staff form and bring it up to block the attack in time.

 

But it wasn't the speed of the attack that surprised her. Nor was it the way that Fate's device had changes shape or how her barrier jacket had lost its cloak and become more streamlined. It was the sight of something on her creation's face that Precia had never seen there before. Anger.

 

"You used me as an accomplice in your illegal schemes." Fate snarled, "You whipped me whenever I failed to meet your impossible standards. You murdered Linith for daring to ask that you treat me as your own flesh and blood for _one evening_. You nearly did the same to Aruf when she called you out on your actions. But I never dreamed that you'd sink so low as to hurt Alicia."

 

As Precia struggled to defend herself against her enraged creation, she realized what had happened. Despite all the pain and scorn that she had heaped upon her creation, Fate had genuinely loved her mother. Because of that, she hadn't been able to bring herself to seriously attempt to harm her creator. But in a moment of impulsive anger, she had committed the one act that Fate could not forgive.

 

She tried to strike back at her attacked, but Fate was moving far too fast to hit. She could barely track the movements of her opponent, much less keep up with them. If she was going to win the fight, she was going to have to pull out her trump card. Calling up a shield spell to hold off Fate, she unsealed the Jewel Seeds stored in her device.

 

The eight Lost Logia hummed with power as she activated them. The ground started to shake beneath her feet as she prepared to use the energy contained within to obliterate her creation. Then a black and yellow streak shot towards her. Using the momentum created by her enhanced speed, Fate launched herself blade first at her mother. Precia's shield shattered under the force of the blow, barely slowing it down as the blade kept going and slammed into her torso.

 

"My name is Harlaown now, not Testarossa. _You are not my mother_." Fate growled as she pulled the blade free.

 

Precia gasped in pain as she slid off the sword and fell to the ground, the Jewel Seeds dropping around her. Had the sword been any wider, she might have been cut in half from that single thrust. As it was, the wound was easily large enough to be fatal.

 

As she started to bleed out, Precia saw her creation limp over to her daughter, and heard her daughter again refer to the clone as her sister. That repeated reference caused her to remember a moment from a happier point in her life.

 

It had been the last picnic she had been able to take Alicia on before her work forced her to spend most of her time away from her child. She had asked her daughter what she had wanted for her birthday, and Alicia had asked for a little sister. Now that she was dying, she realized that she had actually given her child that gift without ever intending to. And just how terrible a mother she had been to the daughter she had rejected.

 

How was it that a familiar could be so much wiser than its creator? Linith had seen Fate for what she truly was, and had tried to get Precia to realize that, but she had refused to listen. What was it that Linith had told her, the day that Precia decided to let her die upon fulfilling her role rather than returning her to her original form? Oh, yes. 'You may not have much time left, but you still have enough time to set things right.' Back then, Precia had ignored that advice, but now that there was no time left at all, she could see what a fool she had been to have done so.

 

_Forgive me, Linith. You were right. You were right....._

 

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Fate looked sadly at the dying form of the woman who had created her. She had wanted to take Precia alive, but the moment she started using the Jewel Seeds, Fate knew that she had to take her down as quickly as possible in order to prevent a dimensional disturbance that could potentially wreck a sizable portion of the planet.

 

Fate limped over to her sister's unmoving form. From where she laid, Alicia had seen the entire fight. She didn't want to know what was going through the other girl's head. She had just seen her mother die by her sister's hand. She had only recently learned of her mother's crimes, and knew nothing of the potential catastrophe that Fate had averted by cutting Precia down. Kneeling down, Fate took her sister's hand.

 

"Are you alright, imouto?" Alicia asked weakly.

 

"All I ever wanted," Fate said, her voice cracking with grief, "Was for her to smile at me the way she always smiled at you. Just once. Was that really too much to ask?"

 

The two sisters wept. In the distance, Fate could hear the local police arriving, no doubt summoned by somebody reporting the presence of a wanted killer or her battle with said killer at the school. This was followed by the reinforcements Fate had called the moment she had seen Precia arrive, and ambulances called in to treat the bystanders injured by the battle. That didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered to the two mourning siblings was the fact that they weren't mourning alone.

 

When the two finally looked away from each other, the police were photographing the scene of the battle and taking statements from the witnesses. While there was definitely going to be an official investigation of the fight, it was apparent that the police were quite happy with the notion that a recent multiple murderess had just been killed while in the process of committing another crime, thus allowing them to close the hospital murder case.

 

As the coroner took custody of Precia's body, Fate saw Yuuno start picking things up around where the body lay.

 

"What are those?" An officer asked of him.

 

"These are what caused the earthquake that hit a few minutes ago, along with the bigger one that hit Japan the summer of seven years ago." Yuuno answered.

 

"Are you saying these little stones cause earthquakes?" The officer laughed.

 

"Not intentionally. The Jewel Seeds are so powerful that using them can cause major disruptions to the surrounding environment. That's why they need to be locked away in a secure facility to prevent them from being used and causing a major calamity, just like the other twel... uh-oh."

 

"What's the problem?"

 

"These Jewel Seeds are part of a set of twenty-one. Twelve of them were secured and locked away seven years ago. The other nine were in Precia's possession when she evaded TSAB custody during the same incident. There are only eight Jewel Seeds here. One of them is missing."

 

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The battle Hotaru had just seen was frightening. It was one thing when a magical war was fought in the shadows, only known to the public as rumors published in tabloids. It was another to know that it was real, and see the damage it caused with her own eyes. People were getting hurt and killed, and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Or was there?

 

If Shamal was right, Hotaru had more magical power than anyone else alive. On top of that, the healing spell she had invented could do things that no other mage had even considered possible. But that power had a terrible cost that could very well kill her if she used it before the cause of her spreading nerve paralysis was dealt with.

 

But with monsters and killer mages stalking the city, could Hotaru really afford to focus purely on herself? There weren't many people capable of fighting against the youma, and one of them was unable to use her powers due to injuries that only Hotaru's powers had been able to treat. A woman who was currently forced to watch as her friends went into battle without being able to help them. A woman whose sister was in mortal danger.

 

Hotaru puzzled over the choice between healing another and maintaining her own health and came to a decision. She had never once seen someone get hurt and not tried to heal them. Not even when she knew the person in question hated her and would only hate her more afterwards. She was not going to stop that now. Not when this time there was so much more at stake than just some classmate needing to have a bandage for a few days.

 

Leaving Alicia in the care of her sister, Hotaru headed for her friend's home. Most of the people that lived there were currently either at Mugen Gakuen or doing some work associated with the battle that had just been fought that, so her arrival passed completely unnoticed. It wasn't long before she found Nanoha, who was fretting over the fact that she hadn't been able to rush to her friend's side to help her as she was savagely whipped by her own mother. Walking behind the frantically pacing girl, Hotaru placed a hand on Nanoha's spine and called up her healing spell.

 

Warmth flowed through her hands as Hotaru mended the months old damage to Nanoha's back, and with it the harm inflicted on the source of her magic. As the healing process commenced, she felt the numbness in her feet start to spread upwards through her legs. Struggling to maintain her balance, Hotaru forced herself to maintain the spell.

 

For a few moments, Nanoha didn't realize what was happening. She just basked in the sensation of a damaged part of her body getting noticeably better. Then she realized why that was happening.

 

"Hotaru? You were told not to use your magic. You know what this could do to you!" Nanoha protested.

 

"I know, but I just can't stand by and do nothing. This is the only thing I can do to help." Hotaru insisted, pushing as much power into the spell as she could.

 

At that moment, Hotaru lost control of her knees. Since she had been depending on locked knee joints to keep her upright, this caused her to lose her balance and fall over, knocking both herself and Nanoha to the ground. Refusing to stop no matter how much her body failed her, she kept going, repairing Nanoha's wounds until she could no longer feel her spell accomplishing anything. Gasping for breath, Hotaru assessed how much damage she had done to herself in healing Nanoha.

 

"I can't... feel... my legs." She panted, before passing out.

 

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Omake: What is it with this planet?

 

The report of the first confirmed mage with SSS potential hit the TSAB like a lightning bolt. With virtually all non-magical weapons restricted or outright illegal in TSAB controlled space, high-end mages were the superweapons of the post-Belkan age, and the potential implications of a single mage with that much power was frightening. Countless plans were proposed to figure out how they could bring the new mage into their sphere of influence.

 

Then, one of the people discussing the matter brought up a related matter. Including the SSS mage, they had discovered seven mages with AAA potential or above that were native to Unadministered Planet #97 in the past decade, all of them from the same region. Even if the planet was a backwater that had no knowledge of thaumaturgy, it still seemed to produce people with considerable magical potential. Taken in combination with a chance remark filed in a previous report, the TSAB devised a plan to take advantage of the immense magical potential of a world that was incapable of recognizing or utilizing the natural talents of its citizens itself.

 

When the shipping crate full of TSAB recruitment brochures arrived at the Midori-ya a week later, Kyouya reflected that it was a good thing that Miyuki wasn't there to see it.

 

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A/N: The only individual with destroy a planet potential in MGLN canon is SS-ranked Hayate, so it figures that Sailor Saturn has to be in at least the same weight class.

 

Some of you might be disappointed that Ami didn't get to deal with Precia, but I knew the moment that I brought her into the story that Fate would need to be the one to confront her mother.

 

Thanks to Nordian for the idea of the Vita/Nanoha scene, as well as writing most of it for me.


	14. A Very Busy Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or MGLN.

 

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 13

A Very Busy Day

 

The Senshi had a long standing policy where if any of their number sounded an alarm, the others would drop whatever they were doing as fast as they plausibly could so that they could help. While this had occasionally resulted in some of them running halfway across the ward only to find the fight was over by the time they got there, none of them begrudged the lost time. After all, there had been times when the extra help was needed, and the next time around it could be the person whose time was wasted who needed help in a fight.

 

The only thing that the Senshi's alliance with the TSAB had changed to that policy was to increase the number of people who could potentially send or receive the alarm. Which was why Sailor Mars was trying to make her way to Mugen Gakuen in response to an alert that Doctor Precia Testarossa was there.

 

Mars was actually looking forward to this fight. Precia had dropped a wall on top of her when they had last met, and Mars was looking forward to getting some payback. She suspected that given what the woman had done the last time she had been sighted, Mercury was even more eager for a shot at her. And in all honesty, Mars couldn't blame her for that.

 

She was still en route to the battlefield when she felt the wave of power. It was sudden. It was immense. And perhaps more disturbingly, it was familiar.

 

Seven years before, when she was just starting to learn how to be a miko from her grandfather, she had felt waves of power like this. They had occurred irregularly for about a month, culminating in one that happened at the exact moment an enormous storm broke out over the ocean with no warning. That one had been so massive that her awakening spiritual senses couldn't handle it, and she had passed out. She didn't wake up until a few days later, by which time they had stopped just as suddenly as they had started. She never had figured out what had caused them. Apart from a brief period shortly after Venus successfully contacted the princess when she thought she might have felt a wave of power like that again, she hadn't experienced anything like that in the years since. And now they had returned. And this one was actually stronger than the one that had knocked her out all those years before.

 

And then, just as suddenly, the wave stopped. Moments later, she received an all-clear message.

 

What had happened? Was the wave connected with Precia somehow? She would have to report this the next time she met with the others. Hopefully somebody would have a notion as to what was going on.

 

In the meantime, it looked like there wasn't any need for the Sailor Senshi to fight today. Sailor Mars turned away from her original course and started looking for a place to detransform in private.

 

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Mistress 9 had found her host's conversation with the woman named Shamal to be both interesting and worrying. Knowing the reason why her host's body was slowly failing was quite useful, especially as it came with the implication that once she had grown strong enough to destroy her host's personality and claim the body entirely for herself, it would recover. But she didn't like the thought that this doctor apparently had investigated a method of severing the link between her and the host body, and wanted to try it out.

 

Mistress 9 was a long way away from her full strength. She wouldn't be able to survive without a host body, and could only take control of the body for short periods of time. The thought that she might get blown up after being removed from her source of power only made the doctor more of a threat. She had to find a way to get rid of her.

 

She had been unable to speak with Germatoid. He had been busy with his work creating the constructs they had dubbed the Witches 5. Once they were completed, the Death Busters could begin their campaign of gathering Heart Crystals so that they could summon Pharaoh 90 to this world.

 

Still, the possibility that her host would stop wasting their body's strength on healing spells was helpful. The girl's body wasn't big enough for both of them, and every spell she cast was reducing the available real estate. The last thing she wanted was to inherit a crippled body, even temporarily. The extent to which the girl had already paralyzed herself was bad enough.

 

Mistress 9 watched the battle between her host's friend's mother and sister with dispassion. She didn't really care about either of the combatants either way. Her host might have some personal stake in who won, but it didn't really impact her at all. So she wasn't paying all that much attention when her host decided to go for a walk shortly after the surviving participants in the battle were carted off in an ambulance. She didn't realize what was going on until it became very clear that the girl was going somewhere specific, and it wasn't the hospital or her home.

 

Mistress 9 could only take control of her host's body when her host was distracted. At the moment, the girl was wholly focused on her goal, and the daimon was unable to divert her course, which was becoming clearer with every step. Mistress 9's was returning to the domain of the doctor who wished her destruction.

 

Mistress 9 screamed with rage as her host approached the young woman who suffered from injuries that only her host could heal. But nobody could hear her. Within a matter of minutes, her host had gone from having difficulty walking to being unable to stand.

 

She had to get in contact with Germatoid. That girl had to be controlled before her compulsive habit of healing people got herself - and more importantly, Mistress 9 - killed.

 

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Yuuno had been the only one to make it to Mugen Gakuen before the battle had ended. The local authorities had already arrived in force, and were taking charge of the scene. Walking away from the crowds, he contacted Hayate.

 

"Hayate, it's me. Precia is dead - Fate killed her. Fate and Alicia were both injured in the fight and are being taken to Juuban General Hospital. You might want to have Shamal take charge of them there." He reported.

 

"Okay, she's on her way. Is there anything else I should know at the moment?" Hayate responded.

 

"Yes, and it's a potentially serious problem. The last time I saw Precia, she had nine Jewel Seeds. She only had eight of them with her when she died. I have no idea where the ninth is, and even one of them can cause a lot of damage if activated.

 

"To make things worse, the local police have taken custody of Precia's body and all her effects, including the Jewel Seeds. While I'm sure we can get most of that released to Fate or Alicia as next of kin, that will take time, and given that Precia nearly activated the Jewel Seeds before Fate took her down, they could get triggered just by careless handling. I tried to explain exactly how dangerous they are, but the police refused to accept that they do not have the means to safely store a Lost Logia. I think I'm going to need help to get them properly contained."

 

"Terrific. I'm heading to the local police station with the rest of the Wolkenritter. We'll try to come with a way to convince the authorities that they are out of their depth on our way. Once we secure the bulk of the Jewel Seeds, we can start looking for the missing one."

 

Listening to Hayate's instructions, Yuuno left the area. They had to get the Jewel Seeds before someone did something foolish and wrecked the city. Tokyo had enough problems at the moment without any more turning up.

 

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An ambulance left the grounds of Mugen Gakuen, heading for Juuban General Hospital. Inside were two sisters who had been injured in the final rampage of their insane mother. While the people in the ambulance didn't have the means to properly diagnose and treat the wounds they received from the energy blast that Precia had struck both of them with until they reached the hospital, they were able to clean and bandage the numerous lash marks on the elder of the two girls.

 

And to their horror, there were quite a lot of lash marks. In addition to the recent injuries, the girl's back was covered in scars that were obviously from previous lashings. The scars were starting to fade, but were still quite visible. They had almost certainly resulted from injuries received years before. The paramedics had heard that Precia was a child abuser along with her other crimes (Most notably the killing spree in their hospital), but they hadn't expected to see physical proof of it, especially such extensive evidence permanently engraved on the skin of her own child.

 

"Fate?" the younger girl asked. "Who was Linith?"

 

The older girl sighed. "Linith was my first magic tutor. Precia created her to teach me so that she wouldn't have to interact with me herself. She practically raised me for two years."

 

"What happened to her?"

 

"Familiars are created for a purpose. Once that purpose is complete, they die unless their creator takes steps to ensure that this doesn't happen. Precia was going to take those steps, but Linith said she'd be willing to forgo that and accept death if Precia would spend one evening with me as a family.

 

"Precia never kept her half of the deal. Linith faded away, sentenced to a slow death in exchange for a promise that Precia refused to honor. The last thing she told me before she died was that she wished that I had been her daughter, rather than Precia's."

 

While Alicia gasped at the further revelation of how far her mother had fallen in the years she had been comatose. While they didn't understand the bit about familiars, they had just heard the story of a woman who had condemned her child's primary caretaker to a lingering death for daring to suggest that the parent make a token effort to involve herself in her child's life. One thing was certain: It was a good thing that woman was already dead.

 

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From a purely physical perspective, Nanoha felt better than she had in months. But the cost of her sudden good health kept her from enjoying that. Hotaru, the young girl with an unprecedented talent for healing spells who she had only just met, was lying unconscious on the floor. And from what the girl has said before passing out, she had sacrificed her ability to walk in order to heal Nanoha's back and magic.

 

Even if she hadn't been forbidden from using magic, Nanoha's knowledge of medical spells was virtually nonexistent. She didn't have the slightest idea of how to treat Hotaru's self-inflicted condition. This was something that would require an expert.

 

Unfortunately, Shamal wasn't around. She had left the base after the report the Precia had resurfaced had come in. Hayate and the rest of the Wolkenritter had left at around the same time. And since Nanoha wasn't allowed to use magic, she couldn't contact her telepathically.

 

After checking that the unconscious girl wasn't in a position that would hurt her if left in it for a while, Nanoha left to find a mechanical method to contact the TSAB's local medical specialist.

 

"What is it, Nanoha?" Shamal asked when Nanoha managed to contact her.

 

"It's Hotaru. She showed up and used that healing spell on my back again. You were right about the risks if she kept using that spell. She's unconscious on the floor and from what she said before passing out, I don't think she can walk anymore. What do I do?" Nanoha gasped out.

 

Shamal cursed under her breath. "We warned her what could happen if she continued using magic before the cause of her nerve paralysis was dealt with. Why didn't she listen?

 

"Alright. Call an ambulance for her. See if you can get her taken to Juuban General. I'm heading there to take care of Fate and Alicia anyway, so it will be faster if she also goes there. Once there, I'll try to speak with her family and get permission to heal her."

 

"Wh-What's wrong with Fate and Alicia?!" Nanoha demanded.

 

"They were both wounded in the fight against Precia. I think I should be able to treat them fairly easily, but that will have to wait until the local doctors stop looking over them."

 

"And what about Precia?" If that woman had escaped after hurting Fate yet again, then Nanoha was going to make her regret it. Especially since she had now expanded her abuse to Fate's sister.

 

"She's dead. She won't be hurting anyone else ever again." With that, Shamal closed the connection.

 

Nanoha immediately started looking up the phone number of the hospital in question. A young girl needed medical attention, and if what Shamal had said about the recent battle was true, then Fate would need someone to be with her as well.

 

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One inherent difficulty with dealing with officials on Non-Administered worlds was the fact that since they were Non-Administered planets, government credentials issued by an Administered world had no authority with them. In many cases the locals had never even heard of the TSAB, much less recognized its authority.

 

Since she had been born on Earth, Hayate was one of the few people in the TSAB who actually existed in its records. Unfortunately, those records weren't about Major Hayate Yagami, SS-class mage and up-and-coming officer. They were about Hayate Yagami, orphan and recovered paraplegic who hadn't been seen or been heard from by anyone since graduating from junior high and leaving Japan to 'study abroad'. This was making the discussion with the local police force about the Jewel Seeds rather difficult.

 

The man that she, Yuuno, Signum, Zafira and Vita were talking to didn't want to accept that they knew a lot more about Lost Logia than he did. Or that they were dangerous. Or that the local government did not possess the means to safely contain or destroy them. They couldn't even get the man to understand that storing them all in the same evidence bag was a very bad idea.

 

"I've had enough of this!" The officer ranted. "I've been in the force longer than you've been alive, little girl, and I don't need some kid telling me the proper way to store evidence!"

 

The man slammed his hand down onto his desk, where it landed on the plastic bag holding the Jewel Seeds. The impact ripped the bag, bringing his skin into contact with the Lost Logia. The crystals started to glow as the angry man inadvertently activated them.

 

"Yuuno! Get a barrier up, now!" Hayate ordered.

 

The air rippled as Yuuno set up the barrier needed to separate the people in the office from the rest of the precinct.

 

"What's happening?" The officer blurted out.

 

"You just accidentally caused the very problems we were trying to warn you about. I suggest you get back and let us handle this. Signum, Vita, Zafira, get ready."

 

The three Wolkenritter activated their Devices and prepared to contain the Lost Logia.

 

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Ami sat by her mother's bedside, holding her hand.

 

"It's over, Mother." She said. "The person who did this to you is dead."

 

Her mother didn't react to the news. But then, she hadn't reacted to anything since she had been put in that bed.

 

Nothing available to Japanese medicine had been able to wake her mother up. So far all efforts to find a magical solution had yet to find anything promising enough to even warrant trying it to see if it made a difference. Ami supposed that with Precia gone, there might be something in her belongings that might explain the workings of the energy drain spell enough to find a counterspell. Even if there wasn't a counterspell, if the spell could be reproduced, it might be possible to use it to provide her mother with enough energy to revive her. Ami was perfectly willing to volunteer as a donor if that option became viable.

 

Ami sat there, watching her mother's still form as the time passed. Eventually a nurse came into the room.

 

"Excuse me," The nurse said, "But it's time to give the patient her medication."

 

That was odd. Normally, the doctors tried to not interrupt visiting hours as a courtesy to the visitors if possible. Since her mother's vitals hadn't changed at all since she had been hospitalized, there certainly wasn't any pressing need to alter that practice. Also, given that her mother was unconscious and had been for days, any medication would be administered intravenously, and the nurse didn't appear to have brought a syringe to inject whatever medicine she had into the IV bag. And finally...

 

"You're not the duty nurse for this ward." Ami said suspiciously. She had spoken with the nurse when she had first gotten to the hospital.

 

"I just got on shift." The nurse replied.

 

That might have fooled most people, but Ami's mother had been working at this hospital for Ami's entire life. She knew what the work schedule was. "Shift change isn't for another hour and a half." She commented, pointing at the wall clock. "It's obvious you don't really work here. Who are you?"

 

The nurse - if she really was a nurse - froze as she was caught out. Then she started to smile evilly.

 

"Well then, I guess I'm going to have to take two instead of one today."

 

The nurse's form started to warp. A mass of tentacles that had been an arm moments before smashed into Ami and pinned her against the wall.

 

The nurse was a youma, come to drain the patients of the hospital in a plot similar to what Precia had done earlier. And at the moment Ami had no way of calling for help, and no time for help to arrive if she did. She was on her own.

 

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The man who was known to the public as Professor Souichi Tomoe but thought of himself as Germatoid had had a very busy afternoon. First there had been a battle between a magical girl and her apparently insane mother on the grounds of his school. That had brought in the police. Fortunately, since the fight hadn't happened in the school proper, they hadn't had any reason to search the facilities and possibly run into the hidden laboratories in which he was preparing the Death Busters for their impending campaign to gather the Heart Crystals needed to bring Pharaoh 90 to devour this world. It still was a major inconvenience that brought far more attention to his school than he wanted.

 

And now he was told that his daughter was in the hospital with a potentially crippling condition. Anything that happened to her also happened to Mistress 9, the Daimon he had implanted in her the day of the lab accident that nearly killed her and first put him in contact with Pharaoh 90. She was irreplaceable.

 

It had taken some effort, but he was eventually able to get away from the officers taking statements at the school and make it to Juuban General. Fortunately, the concern he had for the Daimon implanted in his daughter's body sounded similar enough to concern for his daughter to anyone listening.

 

"W-What's wrong with Hotaru?" He gasped out to the doctor as he entered the room where Hotaru was seated in a wheelchair.

 

The doctor looked at his clipboard, flipped through a few pages, and then addressed him. "I'm afraid we don't know, sir. From what we can tell, a significant portion of her nervous system has simply shut down. At present, we don't haven't been able to discern why. Hopefully, we should be able to learn more once we have the opportunity to run some tests."

 

A second doctor walked towards them. "I believe I can shed some light on this case, gentlemen." She said.

 

"And who would you be?" The first doctor asked.

 

"I'm Doctor Shamal Yagami. Hotaru's case is very similar to a case that afflicted a relative of mine seven years ago. The doctor of record on that case was Doctor Sachie Ishida, in Unimari. I did some examinations of my own, and discovered some things that didn't make it onto the official record."

 

"What discoveries? And what makes you so certain that Tomoe-san's case is similar to this earlier one?"

 

"I first met the girl earlier this week, and I was able to recognize the start of the nerve paralysis then. Judging by the fact that it spread from merely affecting her feet to covering her legs in that short time, it's clear that she disregarded my advice on how to slow the progression of her condition." Hotaru looked away guiltily at that comment.

 

"If I'm right, Hotaru is afflicted by a kind of rare and pernicious parasite." Doctor Yagami continued. "Her body is slowly shutting down due to the strain of trying to support itself and the parasite. So far, the effects have yet to impair her in any way other than in reduced mobility, but sooner or later they will spread to impact one or more vital organs. At that point, her life will be in danger.

 

"I believe that I may be able to remove the parasite, but given the patient's age, she isn't capable of giving consent for the procedure herself. I asked her to inform her family of her condition and the possibility of a treatment when we last met."

 

"Hmm. I'll have to contact this Dr Ishida. In any case, your theory suggests a possible method of investigation. If the tests I'm thinking of pan out, I'll want to talk with you about your proposed removal procedure." The first doctor mused.

 

Germatoid froze. He knew very well that there was a parasitic lifeform in his daughter's body. The parasite's name was Mistress 9. And the last thing he wanted was for it to be removed. If Mistress 9 died, his plans would be ruined. He wasn't sure how Hotaru had met this Doctor Yagami, but it was clear that she knew far too much. And once her theories were officially noted in Hotaru's medical records, any physician who took over her case would know about them and try to remove the parasite. Both doctors had to be eliminated before their knowledge of Mistress 9 could be recorded.

 

"No." He snarled.

 

"Excuse me?" The doctor asked.

 

"I am not going to allow you to remove the daimon that I planted in that child. Too many of my plans depend on it. And if you try to stop me, I'll just have to get rid of you!"

 

He lunged at the doctors, but was suddenly stopped short by chains that appeared out of nowhere. Looking at Doctor Yagami, who had somehow changed outfits in the blink of an eye and was holding a strange apparatus of rings and chains, he knew that she was responsible.

 

"I was only going to attempt the procedure with the consent of her family, but since it seems that you are responsible for your child's condition, I believe we can forgo that." She said coldly.

 

"You think these chains can stop me? Fool! You face the supreme being, the ultimate fusion of human and daimon, Germatoid!" Shifting into his daimon form, Germatoid was able to break free of the chains easily. But before he could kill the doctors, the air rippled, and one doctor vanished. Resolving to track down and eliminate her later, Germatoid focused his attention on the still visible Doctor Yagami.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Ami was pinned against the wall, unable to reach her henshin pen as she struggled for air. While Sailor Mercury could have dispatched the youma fairly easily, Ami Mizuno didn't have the means to do so without transforming.

 

At least, she hadn't up until recently. Turning her thoughts to the one Mid-Childan spell she had learned, she formed an icicle in her hand. Stabbing the icicle into the youma's tentacle, she was rewarded with a shriek of pain. The tentacles recoiled, dropping her to the floor. Before the creature could recover, she cast the spell again, this time closing her hand on the forming ice, breaking it into small shards. Then she threw the handful of ice crystals into the youma's face. The distraction caused by the youma needing to clear its eyes gave Ami the time she needed to reach her henshin pen and transform.

 

Sailor Mercury glared at the monster that had tried to kill her mother and raised her hands to cast a spell.

 

The youma had only expected to be facing an annoyingly observant teenager. Now it was facing an angry Senshi. Realizing the danger it was now in, it bolted just before the spell was cast.

 

"Get back here, you monster!" Mercury yelled as she chased after it, not caring that she crashed into the frozen doorframe on her way out of the room and that it shattered from the impact.

 

With all the people walking the corridors of the hospital, Mercury couldn't risk casting a spell at the youma. She was forced to run after it, hoping to corner it someplace where there wouldn't be a risk of hitting a civilian.

 

Turning a corner, Mercury saw that the youma had vanished. An open door halfway down the hall showed her where it had gone. Running to the room, she found it draining energy from a small form resting in a bed. Clenching her teeth in rage, Sailor Mercury launched a freezing spell at the youma.

 

The youma broke off the energy drain and dodged the attack. Then it launched an attack of its own. Mercury threw herself to the ground, the tentacles passing above her and smashing into the wall above her. By the time she rolled to her feet, the youma had leapt out the window and fled.

 

If the youma was capable of returning to the Dark Kingdom on its own, it would have done so. Instead, Mercury could see it fleeing down the street through the ruined window. It had to be fleeing to someone or something that could return it to its base.

 

Mercury tried to calm herself. The youma wasn't solely responsible for trying to kill her mother. It had acted under orders. If she could track it to its point of origin, she could not only destroy the youma, but also the ones who sent it. If she was lucky, she might even find something that would allow her to strike against the Dark Kingdom as a whole rather than just taking out another energy draining operation. She just had to let it live... for now.

 

Mercury leapt out the window in pursuit of the youma that had tried to kill her mother.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Once Nanoha had safely seen Hotaru into the care of the doctors, she hurried to find Fate's room. She had never seen what Precia had done to her daughter up close. Fate had always been reticent about allowing others to see the scars those incidents had left behind. But from what little Aruf had told her, it wasn't likely to be pretty.

 

While Nanoha couldn't see Fate's injuries themselves, what she couldn't see wasn't reassuring. Fate's torso was covered in bandages, many of which were stained with her blood. Noticing her friend's arrival, Fate weakly turned her head to look at her.

 

"Nanoha..?" Fate mumbled groggily.

 

"Fate! Are you alright?" Nanoha gasped out.

 

"I'll.. be okay. Precia's done worse than this to me before."

 

Nanoha wasn't sure what was more disturbing: the possibility that Fate was seriously hurt and was lying to keep her from worrying, or the possibility that she was actually telling the truth. Whichever it was, it was clear that Fate was under a lot of painkillers at the moment.

 

Nanoha sat in the room with her friend, talking about the events of earlier that day. Precia Testarossa might have been a monster, but she had still been Fate's mother, and being forced to accept how far she had fallen from the caring person she had been before losing her first child to a preventable industrial accident had hurt Fate deeply. Nanoha lost track of time as she comforted her friend.

 

Suddenly, something smashed through one of the walls. Nanoha tackled Fate, knocking them both away from the flying debris. Getting off the floor, Nanoha could now see an enormous hole in the wall to the adjacent room, though whatever had caused it was now gone.

 

The noise caused by a hole getting knocked in the wall had drawn the attention of people outside the room. A man poked his head into the room and asked if they were alright. But before Nanoha or Fate could answer, a disturbing cracking sound started.

 

The wall between the two rooms had been a load-bearing wall, and the hole was located in a spot that had once contained a support beam. Now the hospital was adjusting to the fact that there was a missing support, and with several floors above the one that they were in, that could potentially mean the ceiling caving in on them, killing them, anyone in the room directly above them, and quite likely many others in this part of the building.

 

Nanoha knew that she wasn't supposed to be using her magic, but Fate wasn't in any condition to act, and nobody else was available. She just had to hope that Hotaru had healed her linker core enough to allow her to do this without permanently harming her magic. Casting a Protection spell, she positioned it below the broken support beam, having the shield take the weight that the support should have been taking.

 

"Get everyone out of this part of the hospital, _now!_ " She ordered. "And find someone who can shore up this wall. I don't know how long I can hold this up, or how much of the building will fall apart if the ceiling caves in."

 

"Nanoha, you can't...!" Fate protested, fumbling for Bardiche, which was lying on the bedside table in its inactive form.

 

"I'm the only one who can, Fate. You're hurt, and I doubt you can focus on a shielding spell strong enough to do any good with all those painkillers in your system. Just _go!_ I'll follow as soon everyone's clear."

 

Gulping, the man helped Fate out of the room, leaving Nanoha locked in a battle with gravity and inertia.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It was the second time that day that the Senshi had received an alert. It had been a long time since the last time they had needed to fight multiple battles on the same day. One recurring nightmare the Senshi had was Beryl realizing that she had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of minions and just sending them in wave after wave until the Senshi were too worn down to continue fighting. Fortunately, that scenario had never arisen.

 

"What's the situation?" Venus asked.

 

"We have three problems at the moment. First, someone activated all of Precia's Jewel Seeds at a local police precinct. Second, a monster is attacking Shamal at Juuban General. Finally, Sailor Mercury reports that she is in pursuit of a youma that was attempting to drain the patients of the same hospital of their life energy." Rein's voice reported through the communicator.

 

Venus winced. Three battles to fight simultaneously. "How bad is each problem?"

 

"Signum, Zafira and Vita are with Hayate at the police precinct. They think they have that situation under control. Mercury says that her main concern is tracking the youma to its base of operations, not open combat. It's Shamal I'm worried about. She's a support mage, not a front-line fighter."

 

Venus thought about what she had learned. If the people dealing with the first problem thought they had things under control, it was probably best to take them at their word. That left two other situations. If Mercury was really just trying to find a Dark Kingdom base, then she might not even need to fight until at least one of the other battles was over and reinforcements were freed up. On the other hand, she was also the weakest of the Senshi, and could potentially get in trouble if anything went wrong and she didn't have backup.

 

"Kamen, join up with Mercury." She ordered. "Try to avoid combat until it's possible for someone to send help if you can. Mars, Jupiter, with me. We're heading to the hospital."

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hotaru couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her father knew about the source of her health problem. No, it was worse than that. He was _responsible_ for her current health problem. He was deliberately trying to turn her into some kind of monster, and had nearly killed her in the process. He had already done the same things to himself, to the point where he could turn into a monster. It seemed that she and Alicia had another thing in common, though having evil relatives wasn't something either were likely to be proud of.

 

Now she was watching the thing her father had become trying to kill the doctor who had discovered the source of her paralysis. And it was clear that Shamal was overmatched. She wasn't even trying to attack the creature that called itself Germatoid. She had her hands full just keeping out of its reach.

 

Suddenly, Hotaru found her body moving of its own volition. Her arms started pushing the wheels of her wheelchair, taking her towards the fight. Then something black streaked past her and attacked Shamal. Hotaru realized that it was her own hair, which somehow had gotten considerably longer than it had been moments before. What was happening? And how?

 

_Because I can't allow that woman to live, little girl._

 

Who had said that?

 

_I did. I suppose I should thank you for finding someone who could figure out what was wrong with this body. Now I know that once I get rid of you, it should recover. And then Germatoid and I can bring our master to this world. But first, we need to eliminate this troublesome doctor. I can't allow her to let anyone else know about me and how I might be killed._

Hotaru tried to struggle, but her body refused to move the way she wanted it to. She was a prisoner in her own body, and her only hope of freedom was now in danger from the thing that had imprisoned her.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sailor Mars had had a very hectic afternoon. This was the second alert she'd had today. It was also the second time that she had sensed the return of that strange wave of power she had sensed all those years before. She was willing to wager that this wasn't a coincidence.

 

Whether or not it was, the energy she sensed was in a the general direction of a problem that she had been told was currently under control. She was heading to a different battlefield. Youma attacking people in a hospital. If she was to make a list of places where a fight could easily get ugly, that would be near the top.

 

Fortunately, there was already a barrier in place over the hospital by the time she arrived, so there wouldn't be civilians getting caught in the crossfire. One of the early lessons the TSAB had insisted on giving the Senshi was how to enter a barrier meant purely to keep people in specifically for situations like this. As she entered, Mars idly wondered what any observer would think of seeing her seemingly vanish into thin air.

 

The battle was already well underway. Most of the TSAB foot soldiers were already out of action, leaving the battle in the hands of Shamal and Sailors Venus and Jupiter. The Senshi were facing down several large Cyclopes while Shamal was trying to keep out of the reach of a girl in a wheelchair with very long and unusually animate hair. Looking at the girl, Mars muttered a curse under her breath.

 

The Cyclopes were monsters, plain and simple. They might have superficially resembled a human being, but as a trained spiritualist Sailor Mars could tell it was anything but, although for some reason she could only sense one monster when she could see several. But the girl was technically human, being controlled by something.

 

The Senshi _hated_ dealing with possessed opponents. All of their spells were centered around the idea of killing their opponents, which they had to avoid if possible when the youma was possessing an innocent person. It would be a great deal easier if one of them knew a simple spell to expel a possessing entity or just kill it without harming the host, but they didn't have anything like that. All they had was Sailor Mars, part-time miko. And since the traditional Shinto exorcism ritual wasn't particularly quick or meant to be used on moving targets, that meant they had to find some way to immobilize their opponent long enough for Mars to perform the ritual without harming it, something that was often far harder than it sounded. Fortunately, they didn't turn up all that often.

 

It seemed that Mars was the only one capable of fighting the possessed girl. Venus and Jupiter would have to deal with the Cyclopes on their own. Well, there was one thing she could do for them before she focused her attention on the exorcism.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sailor Mercury ran after the youma, fighting back the urge to freeze the thing solid and smash it to pieces. Defeating it now wouldn't accomplish anything. But maybe if she could track it to its base of operations first, the TSAB might have some way of getting intelligence from the base. Forensic investigation and intelligence analysis were two skills the Senshi had never had available to them before. Now that they had allies with some degree of skill in those, maybe they could find a way to actually take the offensive for once.

 

As the youma stopped fleeing down the streets and instead ran into a park, Mercury realized that the youma was now running towards something just as much as it was running from her. It was getting close to its base. Good. Then she saw that the youma wasn't running to somewhere, it was running to _someone_. To be more specific, it was running to Zoicite. And with most of her colleagues busy with fights elsewhere, he had her outgunned. And he had seen her.

 

"You fool!" He snarled, smashing the youma aside and seizing the stolen life energy from its dying form, "You lead the Senshi right to me!" Turning his attention to Sailor Mercury, he hissed, "You shouldn't have come alone, little Senshi."

 

Privately, Mercury agreed with him. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone available to provide backup at the moment. Tuxedo Kamen was on his way, but nobody else would be able to show up in time, and until he arrived, she was on her own. And she was the weakest of the Senshi. None of her spells could take out a Dark General.

 

But she was still going to try. That man had just tried to kill her mother, and had quite possibly other people using the same tactic. Even if she couldn't kill him, she was going to do everything in her power to hurt him. She would see him reduced to a corpse or a bloody wreck if it was the last thing she did.

 

Wait. There was something she had just learned about Senshi magic that might enable her to win. Unfortunately, it required time. Time, and a relatively stationary target, neither of which she had at the moment. She tried attacking low. Maybe if she could freeze his feet to the ground, it would hold him still long enough for her to use a more effective holding spell she'd come up with from her studies in Mid-Childan magic. Then she could take him down.

 

Zoicite danced out of the way of her attack and countered with his own. Bystanders screamed and fled as the two traded spells back and forth, ripping up the street in the process. Thanks to the brutal but carefully planned out training regimen that she had been subjected to, Mercury was able to avoid getting hurt, but that simply turned the fight into a destructive stalemate. If only she could somehow slow him down...

 

Noticing the nature of the damage her spells were inflicting on the terrain, she changed tactics. Where before she was trying to land an exact strike, now she made her spells more diffuse. She still missed, but the misses were creating large patches of ice where they struck. Soon, there weren't many places on Zoicite's side of the park where a man could step without stepping on the ice.

 

Zoicite hadn't noticed that Mercury had been deliberately altering the terrain he was fighting on. At least not until an attempt to avoid one of her attacks resulted in him slipping. Taking advantage of his momentary immobility, Mercury froze his legs to the ground. Then she activated her computer and started up a Mid-Childan spell she had come up with.

 

Start with the basic freezing spell. Modify it so that made the ice form in a specific shape. Add in the mathematical formulas for a three-dimensional strange attractor. Zoicite might be able to break his legs free fairly quickly, but he wouldn't be able to do so with this spell, or at least not fast enough. Assuming he could even try. If the spell worked the way she thought it would, it was going to be extremely painful, and she was perfectly fine with that.

 

The spell was ready. Mercury directed the spell towards the Dark General.

 

"Fractal Ice Prison!"

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Zoicite hadn't realized that Sailor Mercury had frozen half the ground until he made the mistake of stepping on one of the numerous icy patches that she had created. The speed at which she followed up on that misstep showed that it had been a deliberate trap rather than a piece of good fortune. The Senshi were getting clever as they grew in experience, it seemed.

 

Fortunately, while the ice pinning him to the street held him immobile, it was far from enough to hurt him. He began breaking himself free when he noticed that there was more ice forming around him. Was she trying to encase him in ice?

 

A flash of light passed as Sailor Mercury cast her normal freezing spell at him. Strangely, it didn't strike him, but instead curved upwards and disappeared. He hadn't known that she could make a spell turn corners. What was she up to?

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp line of pain. The structure of ice forming around him was rapidly growing upwards, outwards, and inwards. It wasn't a cell of ice she was creating, it was an abstract sculpture, with him trapped inside. And the edges that the ice was growing along were sharp enough to be used as scalpels. If he didn't break out know, the walls of his prison would slice him to ribbons, assuming one of the spiky bits didn't extend far enough to run him through first.

 

As he frantically smashed apart the ice, he saw that the ice was reforming at the broken points, slowing his efforts to escape. This couldn't be happening, he seethed as he fought through the pain of the ice slicing and stabbing into him as he tried to free himself. Mercury was the weakest of the Senshi. She couldn't possibly be beating him!

 

He was still breaking apart the ice when the final jaw of the trap sprung.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Senshi had been leery of experimenting with their magic much. For all they knew, trying to alter a spell could result in an explosion, turning themselves into something unpleasant, or do something else equally unexpected. Between the Moon Cats' memory loss and their background as politicians rather than thaumaturges, Luna and Artemis hadn't been any help in figuring out how to cast spells that the girls didn't remember from their past lives.

 

But among the many things found by Yuuno Scrya in the ruins of Serenity's palace were documents describing the nature of Senshi magic. And going through them, Ami had learned that it was far more flexible than they thought. Among the things she had learned was that just because the Senshi had always cast their spells directly at their enemies, that didn't mean that the spells had to travel in a straight line. She hadn't had much time to learn how to apply that knowledge yet - certainly not enough to try hitting a moving target, but what she had been aiming with her last spell was stationary. Or at least, not moving fast enough to matter.

 

The freezing spell soared upwards, into the clouds. As it impacted the enormous mass of water vapor, it began to freeze the moisture. Soon, all the power in the spell was gone, and in its place was an irregularly shaped block of ice. Then gravity asserted itself.

 

Ice wasn't a very visually impressive weapon. It didn't have the obviously destructive power of fire or lightning. But that didn't make it harmless. Regular patterns of freezing and thawing could eventually tear apart even the finest construction. A broken piece of ice could cut like any knife. And the destruction caused by a hailstorm could be just as devastating as a wildfire in its own way, damaging buildings and vehicles, ruining crops in some cases even knocking down trees. If the stones were large enough or coming down heavily enough, they could even kill.

 

The largest naturally formed hailstone in history was about the size of a volleyball. The one that Sailor Mercury had just created was the size of a small car. And it was poised directly above Zoicite, who was too busy trying to keep himself from being killed by the self-repairing ice prison to realize that the true purpose of that spell was to keep him standing in one place long enough for several tons of ice to land on him at terminal velocity.

 

Tuxedo Kamen arrived at the scene of the battle just in time to be sent flying from the shockwave of a massive frozen boulder crashing into the man who had sent a youma after Mercury's critically ill mother, simultaneously crushing him and driving his body into the sharp, jagged edges of the broken ice sculpture that had been containing him.

 

"What was that?" He asked as he picked himself off the ground, looking at the red stain forming under the semi-transparent rubble in the newly formed crater. And that wasn't all the damage that had been done. Several trees that had been unfortunate enough to be planted too close to the impact site had been broken apart or completely uprooted from the force of a man-made meteor striking the earth.

 

"That was Zoicite. He's been dealt with. Come on. The others might need us." Mercury replied. Even if the other fight was over before they got there, she needed to return to the hospital anyway. Ami Mizuno had been seen and recognized entering the hospital. If she wasn't seen leaving it at some point, someone might realize that Sailor Mercury had left the hospital without being seen entering it, and draw unwanted conclusions.

 

Mercury turned away from the crater that held the remains of her mother's would-be killer. It was the first time she had ever killed a human being. She wondered if that would bother her later. At that moment, however, the thought of what he had tried to do was justification enough in her eyes.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sailor Jupiter was really starting to hate this fight. It seemed that every attack that she and Sailor Venus launched at the Cyclopes passed through them. But their attacks were painfully solid. Most of the people the TSAB had sent to the fight were already out of action. If they didn't find a way to hurt them soon, this wasn't going to end well.

 

Sailor Mars had arrived. Hopefully her aid could turn the tide. But instead of joining the fight against the Cyclopes, she sent after the girl on the wheelchair, pausing only to throw a fireball at the sprinklers. What was that all about?

 

Then, as the sprinkler started spraying the room with water, Jupiter saw it. The water was passing _through_ most of the Cyclopes. There wasn't a group of them, there was only one. They had been attacking illusions. The one that was actually getting wet was their real opponent.

 

Venus leapt at the Cyclops, her sword flashing. The monster howled in pain as she sliced open one of its arms, but it was able to grab her by the hair and hurl her straight through a wall before she could dart back out of range. Then it turned its attention to Jupiter.

 

Jupiter countered its first attack by grabbing a shard of metal broken off one of the many pieces of furniture ruined by the fight and stabbing it into the open wound, followed by a high kick aimed at its eye. The creature recoiled from the attack, and Jupiter continued on the offensive. She had to keep it occupied until Venus could dig herself out of the rubble and rejoin the fight.

 

Then she made the mistake of stepping into a tangled power cord that had broken off of the appliance it had been attached to. The Cyclops took advantage of her momentary distraction to grab her by the throat and lift her from the floor. As she struggled for breath, she glimpsed the other end of the cord trailing in a puddle of water by the monster's feet and an idea came to her.

 

Instead of trying to pry the creature's hand from her throat, Jupiter reached out and grabbed the shard of metal stuck in its arm. Then she called forth her lightning. Electricity flowed through her, into the metal, through the monster, and back up the power cord and returning to her body. Jupiter was unaffected by the current created from her own magic. The monster wasn't. Power crackled through the crude circuit as enough energy to run the entire hospital for a week surged through the Cyclops' body, frying it from the inside out.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cornering the mage that wanted to destroy her had been far more difficult than it should have been, but given that her body was currently confined to a wheelchair, Mistress 9 conceded that it couldn't be helped. Soon her enemy would be dead, and Germatoid would finish off those that had come to aid her, and they could resume their plans to bring Pharoah 90 to this world unimpeded.

 

There was a flare of heat and the hair that Mistress 9 had launched at her enemy suddenly caught fire. Since the sprinklers were running, the fire sputtered out quickly, but it meant that she now had another opponent. Turning her head, she saw that a third Senshi had arrived, this one looking sort of like a miko wearing an extremely short skirt. This image was enhanced by her producing what appeared to be a set of Shinto wards from somewhere.

 

"Akuryo Taisan!" The Senshi shouted, throwing the wards at Mistress 9.

 

Pain. That was the only thing going through Mistress 9's mind as the wards struck. She desperately peeled them off before they could do any real damage to her. Unfortunately, one of them had attached to her leg. Since her host had managed to paralyze their body from the waist down with her selfless healing (Often of wounds that Mistress 9 had caused in the first place), bending over so she could reach it was a chore. And while she was doing so, the Senshi walked up and yanked the wheelchair out from under her, leaving Mistress 9 sprawled on the floor.

 

A new source of pain erupted from her back. As she tried to lift herself off the floor, Mistress 9 could see her original target reaching into a hole that had appeared in the air.

 

"Since you can't move anymore, little parasite, it's time I dealt with you.." The woman said coldly.

 

Mistress 9 could feel something inside her, slowly cutting into her. No, not _into_ her, it was cutting her away from her host body. At the same time, a different voice started chanting. Mistress 9 didn't understand the words, but there was power in them, pressing down on her.

 

One attack was separating her from her host body, the only thing keeping her alive. The other was smothering her. Whenever Mistress 9 tried to resist one, the other would wound her. Unable to protect herself from the dual assault, she was soon destroyed, leaving only one mind in the body of Hotaru Tomoe.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The police were puzzled. One moment five people were arguing with an officer over the proper method of securing specific pieces of evidence found on the person of the late Precia Testarossa. Then there was a flash of light and all six of them vanished, along with the evidence in question. Those who had witnessed the incident were still trying to figure out where they had all gone.

 

The air rippled, and all six of the missing people suddenly reappeared. Observers noted that the five civilians weren't wearing the same outfits they had been wearing when they came in. The jewels that had been the object of their discussion were now floating in the air. The officer was pale and shaking.

 

"Now do you understand how dangerous these things are?" The girl who appeared to be the leader of the group said. "You people don't have the ability to secure Lost Logia. I've been a mage since before I could walk. I know how to handle them safely until they can be transferred into a secure facility." With that, she raised her staff (Which she hadn't come in with), and the jewels somehow flew into it.

 

A young man with her picked up a small staff that was lying on the officer's desk. "We'd better take this as well. You don't have the equipment needed to examine this, or the background knowledge to know to what to look for."

 

The officer shakily nodded his acceptance. After the group had left, he was asked why he had let them do that, and he told his questioners that they really, _really_ didn't want to know.

 

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The hospital was in a panic as people tried to figure out what was going on. A youma had apparently tried to attack one of the patients - one of their own staff, no less - before being chased away by one of the Sailor Senshi. The creature had managed to knock out a major structural support, which could have gotten dozens of people killed had one of the other magical girls that had been seen in the area not been present to hold the ceiling in place magically until a more mundane prop could be improvised.

 

And then there was the other incident. What had started as a routine discussion of a patient's condition had taken a turn for the unusual as the patient's father openly admitted to being the cause of the patient's condition and tried to kill everyone who knew the true nature of said health problem. The problem with explaining this to the police who were investigating both of the incidents was that both patient and father had vanished into thin air along with the doctor who had diagnosed the girl's condition (And who, upon later investigation, proved to not be a member of the staff of Juuban General).

 

"So you're saying that a schoolteacher turned into a Cyclops and tried to attack you when he suddenly disappeared?" The officer asked skeptically.

 

"I know it sounds crazy, but that's what happened." The doctor said.

 

Just then, the air rippled, and a large group of people appeared. The patient was one of them, looking at a deep-fried corpse with an expression of absolute horror. There were three Senshi. And then there was Doctor Yagami, who was doing... something to patch up a number of men she didn't recognize, some of whom had recovered enough to be mobile.

 

The officer stared at the group that had just appeared. "Where did you people come from?"

 

"When Professor Tomoe turned into that creature you see on the floor, I created a dimensional pocket where he could be dealt with without destroying the building or harming innocent bystanders. Then I called in reinforcements." She then pushed the wheelchair-bound girl over to her original physician. "The parasite responsible for her nerve paralysis has been destroyed. She should recover with time. Fortunately, she hadn't been suffering this problem long enough for muscle atrophy to have set in, so convalescence shouldn't take anywhere near as long as it did with the last person I knew to have gone through this. The physical convalescence, anyway."

 

That caveat was understandable. Hotaru's body might be able to rebound from what it went through fairly easily, but coming to terms with the fact that her father had put her through that deliberately would be far more difficult.

 

Examining the body, it soon became very clear that the doctor had been telling the truth about Professor Tomoe turning into a monster. Normal humans have two small eyes, not one large one taking up roughly a third of their face. The officer got out his radio and started to report in. By the time he looked back up, two of the Senshi and most of the walking wounded were gone.

 

"Where'd the others go?" He asked.

 

"I sent the others off to help repair the damage inflicted in some other incidents that have been happening today." Doctor Yagami said.

 

"Mars and Jupiter left to deal with a few loose ends. If you need to ask any questions about what happened, you can ask me. However, you should know that we didn't arrive until after the fight started, so we probably don't know much more than you about what started this."

 

The officer sighed as he opened his notebook. He supposed that it was nice that one of them had stayed behind to leave a statement. In the mangas superheroes never showed that kind of courtesy to the authorities.

 

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Kaolinite was working in the Death Buster's hidden lab inside Mugen Gakuen. It would only be a few more weeks before the constructs that she and Germatoid had named the Witches Five were ready, and then their plans to offer this world to Pharoah 90 could begin in earnest.

 

A tone from the campus' security system alerted her to someone arriving. She looked up at the monitor to see if it was Germatoid returning from his errand at the hospital concerning Mistress 9's host. It wasn't. It was another police car. She had though that they had finished examining the scene where that serial killer had been taken out an hour before. Setting aside her current task, she headed out to meet the new arrivals. The last thing the Death Busters needed was someone stumbling on the hidden facilities they had placed around the school.

 

As she made it out of the building, she saw that the newly arrived officers weren't examining the crime scene. They were heading for the main building on campus.

 

"Good evening, officers." She greeted them. "I'm Kaoli Knight, Professor Tomoe's assistant. Can I help you?"

 

One of the two men held up a search warrant. "I'm afraid that Professor Tomoe was killed this afternoon while involved in some illegal activities, Knight-san. We're going to have to search his office."

 

Germatoid was dead? How was that possible? And what had he been doing when he was killed? This was bad. This was very bad. If the police knew he was involved in something illegal, then they were undoubtedly going to tear apart the school and his residence until they found something connected with his crimes. That meant there was a good chance that they would find the labs. That would bring the Death Busters to public attention, which they couldn't afford at the moment. They weren't yet ready to start operations, much less repel a serious assault from whoever or whatever killed Germatoid.

 

The policemen would have to go. Their deaths would be noticed fairly quickly, but it should buy her enough time to load up the more critical items from the lab and leave the area. She could build a new lab and restart her plans elsewhere. Of all the times this could have happened! They were so close to be ready to begin their real work!

 

Kaolinite shifted into her daimon form. Power hummed between her fingers as she gathered energy into her hands. She raised her hands towards the policemen, whose eyes widened with terror as she prepared to strike them down. Then her world vanished in a blinding flash of light.

 

The two policemen were knocked backwards as a bolt of lightning shot down from a mostly sunny sky, striking the woman turned monster. As they climbed to their feet, blinking away the flash blindness, they struggled to figure out what had just happened. Looking around, one of them found the answer, at least to where the lightning had come from.

 

Standing on a rooftop across the street from the Mugen Gakuen campus was a figure dressed in white and green.

 

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After the excitement of the afternoon, things started to calm down in the evening. Shamal finished treating the wounded from the battle with Germatoid and went to tend to Fate. The TSAB repaired the most severe property damage inflicted by the various battles and then returned to base. The Senshi went back to their homes.

 

One of the repairs done to the hospital was to fix the broken support that Nanoha had been forced to act as a makeshift replacement for. This allowed her to leave Fate's former room and seek out where she had been moved to after a youma had knocked a hole in the wall. Shamal was there when she arrived. Unfortunately for Nanoha, the doctor knew the reason why Fate had been forced to change rooms.

 

"What were you _thinking?!_ " Shamal demanded after she finished healing Fate. "I warned you that using magic could damage your Linker Core permanently and you go and use a shield spell to hold up a _building?_ "

 

"I had no choice! If I hadn't done something, the ceiling could have collapsed. People could have gotten killed!" Nanoha protested.

 

"Be that as it may, I'm going to have to give you another checkup to make sure that you didn't injure yourself - _again_. Next time you go on a vacation, you're going to have to pick someplace quieter than Japan. Maybe you should visit Old Belka. Not much happens on that planet anymore. Probably because most of the landmasses have been glowing in the dark for the past century."

 

As Nanoha tried to decide whether or not Shamal was serious about suggesting a radioactive wasteland as a quiet vacation spot, a nurse came into the room.

 

"Excuse me, Harlaown-san?" The nurse said. "Something has gone wrong with the young girl you came in with. We're losing her. She's asked to speak with you."

 

Fate paled. "Alicia..." She leapt out of bed and followed the nurse to her sister's room, with Nanoha not far behind.

 

Alicia had been in the room on the other side of the wall that the youma had destroyed. It must have drained some of her life energy before it fled the building. And since Alicia's body was incapable of generating life energy on its own, that meant that some of the highly limited time that the girl had left to live had been taken from her. She was dying.

 

Alicia was lying on her bed, barely moving. If it wasn't for the rising and falling of the sheets, Fate wouldn't have been able to tell that she was still alive. She rushed to her sister's side and took her hand.

 

"Fate...?" Alicia said weakly.

 

"I'm here, **aneue." Fate answered.**

**"I'm... glad... that I met you..."**

**" _No!_** Stay with me, Alicia. _Please!_ " There had to be something she could do. Yuuno had just recovered Precia's device. If he could extract the energy-draining spell from its records, perhaps she could donate some of her own life energy to sustain Alicia for a little longer. That would buy her the time she needed to find something, _anything_ that could save her.

 

In that moment, Fate understood exactly how her biological mother felt in the moment that she started down the path to madness.

 

"I'm... sorry, imouto. I don't think I can. Good..." Alicia's eyes closed. Her breath slowed further, and her hand went limp. She no longer had the strength to remain conscious. Soon she would fade out entirely.

 

" _Alicia!!!_ " Fate sobbed. Nanoha put a hand on her friend's shoulder, and Fate threw herself into her arms, weeping uncontrollably. As Nanoha held her grieving friend, she wept too. It just wasn't fair. After all of these years, Fate had finally found a member of her birth family that actually cared about her, only to lose her. Why did she have to suffer so?

 

As Nanoha mourned the loss of the final remnant of Fate's childhood dream of a happy family, a part of her mind thought of a foolish girl from a forgotten age who had similarly had all her dreams destroyed in a single day. Even though Nanoha could not understand or accept how Serenity had chosen to deal with her pain, she could understand what she had felt when Serenity realized that her life as she had known it had been irrevocably destroyed.

 

A tear fell from Nanoha's eye. As it fell, it started to glow from a strange inner light. Power pulsed through it as it dropped onto the bed, which magnified as it somehow solidified instead of being absorbed by the sheets. As it did so, strange and miraculous things happened throughout the hospital. Flowers that had been wilting suddenly revived. Over a dozen people with serious illnesses underwent massive spontaneous recoveries. Saeko Mizuno opened her eyes for the first time since her unfortunate encounter with Precia Testarossa. And Alicia's breathing grew stronger as she became truly alive for the first time in more than thirty years.

 

The sound of Alicia stirring snapped Fate out of her grief. She removed herself from Nanoha's arms and embraced her revived sister. As Nanoha smiled in relief at the girl's miraculous recovery, she saw an object roll off the bed. When she picked it up, she knew that she had never seen it before in her life, but still somehow recognized it.

 

It was a diamond, about the size of an apple, which had been carefully cut to resemble a blooming flower.

 

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Omake: Everyday uses for magic:

 

Ami poured herself a glass of lemonade and sat at the kitchen table. She had just figured out how to cast a basic ice spell using Mid-Childan magic. Now the only question was whether or not she could use that spell to do anything useful. In order use that spell, she would need a significant amount of either water or air moisture in order to have something to freeze. And unfortunately, she didn't know any spells to create large amounts of water on demand.

 

She knew that the spell she had cast was nothing more than just a proof of concept. But there still had to be something she could use it for other than making customized ice cubes. She sat at the table, thinking, wondering what she could do with a spell to freeze liquids into whatever shape she chose.

 

Minutes later, she took a sip of the lemonade and realized that it had gone tepid. It also needed sugar. Well, that was one thing that the spell could be used for, at least. While stirring in the sugar, she cast the freezing spell on the glass, cooling the liquid within.

 

The spell started to freeze the lemonade. But since she was stirring the liquid, the ice crystals immediately broke up, leaving small fragments of ice behind. Intrigued, she continued freezing and stirring until the entire glass was full of small ice crystals.

 

Perhaps she had been looking at the problem from the wrong direction. Maybe instead of thinking about creating large items of ice, she should have been considering what she could do with small items under the proper circumstances.

 

Removing the spoon from the glass, Ami decided that it could wait. It was time for a snack. She stopped thinking about magic and focused her attention on the home made lemon snow cone in front of her.

 

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Omake: Well, she _had_ warned her... (Inspired by comments from SJC and nick012000)

 

Nanoha and Fate entered their room and got ready for bed. Nanoha had managed to get through her brief stint as a support beam without any further injury to herself, and Fate's injuries had all been healed after a short session with Shamal. Right now they just wanted to sleep after a long and trying day.

 

At least, that was Nanoha's intention. Fate appeared to be reaching into a bag that she had gotten at a store she insisted that they stop at on their way back to base. Nanoha's puzzlement increased when Fate pulled out a coil of rope.

 

"What's that for Fate?" Nanoha asked.

 

"You were told not to use your magic, Nanoha. You didn't listen. It seems that we're going to need to take more severe measures to ensure that you listen to your doctors." Fate answered as she advanced with the rope.

 

"I didn't have any choice, Fate! It was the only way to keep the building from collapsing - Fate! Stop!"

 

While Nanoha tried to defend her actions, Fate had taken her left wrist and tied it to the bedpost. She then took hold of Nanoha's right wrist.

 

"Fate! Stop this!" Nanoha cried out as she struggled.

 

The door opened.

 

"Fate? Nanoha? What's with all the racket?" Hayate asked. Then she got a good look at what was going on. She saw the state of dress the two girls were in, the position they were in, and the rope, and turned bright red.

 

"Umm... I think I'll let you two have a little privacy. Please set up a barrier to keep the noise from disturbing anyone else." With that, Hayate backed out of the room.

 

"Wait, Hayate! Help!" Nanoha cried out, but it was too late. Hayate had left, and Fate had taken Hayate's advice about the soundproofing barrier. It wasn't until the following morning that the others realized that Nanoha hadn't come down for breakfast and untied her.

 

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A/N: All Hail Zoicite! Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that due to the Book of Darkness, Hayate technically didn't learn how to walk until she was 13.

 

Most public building in real life would not be in immediate danger of collapse if a single interior support failed (Though evacuating that part of the building would still be a good idea). Nanoha isn't a civil engineer and doesn't know this, though.


	15. Crystal Echoes

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

 

The White Devil of the Moon

By bissek

Chapter 14

Crystal Echoes

 

Beryl was not in a good mood. Her efforts to destroy the remnants of the Moon Kingdom and revive Metallia had not been going well since the Moon Princess resurfaced. One of her Generals was dead. Another one had betrayed her. And she had very little to show for these losses. She had found one crystal which had given her significant process in restoring her master, but without the rest of the crystals from the set, that progress meant very little.

 

Her efforts to gain intelligence from her prisoners had amounted to nothing. Nephrite still refused to even admit his betrayal, much less admit to what information he had given up to the enemy or reveal what he knew of them. As for the Princess' sister, she hadn't revealed anything since the first time she had been restrained sufficiently to be interrogated. And that revelation only made Beryl angrier. If the prisoner was to be believed, the Moon Princess had no interest in Endymion whatsoever. But despite this, Endymion had not returned to her. He remained with the temptress who had stolen him away from her. Either the prisoner was lying, or Serenity was selfishly refusing to let go of the man she didn't want for herself.

 

Still, there was one lead that had the potential to bring her victory. Zoicite was searching for the remaining eight crystals that combined could possibly restore Metallia. And while he hadn't succeeded as of yet, he had been sending back a decent amount of life energy without appearing to have any difficulties with those accursed Senshi while he was at it. With all that had been going wrong lately, it was good to see that one thing was going right.

 

Suddenly the air resounded with the sensation of a slumbering power awakening, its power echoing like the ringing of a bell. It had been thousands of years since she had last felt this, but Beryl recognized it immediately. The Moon Princess had found the Ginzuisho, and for a brief moment had called upon its power.

 

This could be a calamity, or a great opportunity. Equipped with the Ginzuisho, the Senshi had the means to obliterate the Dark Kingdom. But if Beryl could seize it before they could properly bring it into play, then she could simultaneously revive Metallia and destroy the one weapon that could threaten her. But in order to do so, she had to act quickly. She called for her last available General.

 

"You summoned me, Your Majesty?" Kunzite inquired upon arrival.

 

"Send word to Zoicite. I need him to return immediately." She ordered.

 

"As you wish, my liege." Kunzite bowed as he backed out of her throne room.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Beryl was far from the only person to feel the Ginzuisho awakening. Most of the others lacked had no frame of reference that would allow them to understand what they had felt. They generally paused for a moment to wonder what had just happened, then shrugged and returned to whatever it was they had been doing. Four Senshi, three girls who had the potential to become Senshi but had not awakened to their powers, and one reincarnated prince felt it and knew that something wonderful had happened, even if they weren't exactly sure what. And two Moon Cats felt it and knew that one of the events that they had been working towards for the past year had finally happened.

 

Most of the TSAB mages also felt it. Nanoha missed it because she had literally been standing at ground zero. Fate's attention had been focused on the fact that her sister was dying (And then suddenly made a full recovery in the blink of an eye). But all the others had noticed it. And one of them could tell that whatever it had been, it had originated from a point in easy walking distance of her location.

 

Shamal didn't need to contact Hayate to know that she needed to figure out what had just happened. Whatever it was, it had been big, and it had apparently happened somewhere in the hospital. She didn't know the exact location, but the building wasn't _that_ large. The search shouldn't take too much time, especially if she didn't need to search by herself. Fate was also in the hospital, and since Shamal had already treated the wounds she had received earlier in the day, she should be up to helping localize the source of the disturbance.

 

Finding Fate was easy. All she had to do was ask one of the nurses where Alicia had been moved to. And sure enough, there she was, clinging to her sister like a limpet while Nanoha was staring at an enormous and exquisitely carved gemstone that was probably worth more than her family's home and business combined.

 

And the size of it wasn't the only strange thing about it. Calling that diamond a gemstone was like calling the Book of Darkness a reference volume - technically accurate, but understating what it really was to an extreme degree. Looking at it, it seemed to Shamal that the stone was made of crystallized energy rather than carbon. It seemed that she wouldn't need Fate's help in finding the source of the disturbance. She was looking at it that very moment.

 

"What in the name of the Sankt Kaiser's lost Cradle is _that?_ " She gasped.

 

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Ami had just finished her task of making sure the hospital staff believed that she had still been in the building while Sailor Mercury had been visibly chasing a youma out of the hospital and redoing the landscaping of a nearby park with a small man-made meteor and was on her way out when she felt the Ginzuisho activate. As she tried to figure out what it was that had just happened, a nurse came running up to her.

 

"Mizuno-san! I'm glad I caught you before you left." The nurse said.

 

"What's happened?" Ami asked, trying to hide her worries. The only reason the staff would want to track her down before she left was if something had changed about her mother's condition. She closed her eyes and silently prayed that it was good news.

 

"Doctor Mizuno just regained consciousness."

 

Anything else the nurse planned to say was lost as Ami spun around and dashed back to her mother's room.

 

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Saeko Mizuno was confused. One minute she was confronting a woman who appeared to be connected to several people dying in her hospital for no reason, and the next she was waking up in a hospital bed. The last thing she remembered before waking up was feeling her strength slipping away as the woman she confronted laughed, and hearing a child screaming.

 

According to the nurse who came when she called for one, she had been out for days. There had been no more mysterious deaths since her attack, but there had apparently been two magical girl battles in the hospital in the past hour, one of which had started in the very room she was staying in. Considering all the publicity the Sailor Senshi had been getting - especially since they had been conclusively proven to be real - she was almost sorry she had missed that.

 

Was that what had happened? Had she inadvertently walked into one of the battles that the Senshi normally fought? If that was the case, then it was no wonder she had been overpowered so quickly by whatever it was that woman had done to her. Since the last three people that the woman had done that do were dead, she was lucky to be alive.

 

The door flew open, and Saeko saw her daughter in the doorway, catching her breath. How had Ami gotten here so quickly? She had only been awake for a few minutes. They only way she could have done that was if... she had already been in the building.

 

Saeko had been afraid that her relationship with her daughter had been falling apart. Her job kept her very busy, often forcing her to work longer than a normal shift. This hadn't impacted her family too greatly back when her husband was around to be with their child, but after the divorce, it meant that Ami wasn't able to spend nearly as much time with her remaining parent as she should have. After Ami had started whatever afterschool activity she had taken up the year before (Saeko had never found the time to ask her about that, with her hectic schedule), it had gotten to the point where most of times that they were both home, one or both of them was asleep. For months, virtually all communication between the two had been through notes left on the kitchen table. Saeko had been worried that Ami had begun to resent the fact that she hadn't been there for her. But Ami had been taking time from whatever she had been doing to visit her.

 

Her daughter still loved her. Considering how she had prioritized being a doctor over being a mother for years, that was something to cherish. She would have to make certain that she didn't lose that. She just wished that she hadn't needed to get close to death to realize what a mistake she had been making.

 

"Mom! You're alright!" Ami gasped.

 

Saeko smiled as her daughter entered the room at sat down next to her bed. Looking at teh relief in her daughter's eyes, Saeko knew that she had to say something that by rights she should have said years before.

 

"Ami, I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you as often as I should. I was wrong to put my work ahead of my family. Please forgive me." She said.

 

"Don't worry about that mom. I'm just glad to have you back."

 

The two sat together, having the first real mother-daughter conversation they'd had in months. Then Saeko coughed. Ami turned and picked up a pitcher of water from the end table and poured a glass. Then she frowned. Setting down the pitcher, Ami held her hand above the glass and closed her eyes.

 

A circle of light with a strange diagram appeared under the glass. As the diagram rotated, frost started forming on the glass. Within moments, the glass was rimmed with frost. Touching the glass, Saeko realized that the glass of what should have been room temperature water was now ice cold.

 

"Ami...?" Saeko whispered. "What was that?"

 

Ami looked at the glass as if she just realized that she had done something she shouldn't have. "Well, mom, you see..." She began sheepishly.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

At the insistence of the local doctors, Alicia would remain in the hospital overnight for observation. Given that her condition was unique even to Shamal's centuries of experience, she agreed that it was best that the girl be monitored in case her health had _another_ unexpected change. Leaving a few monitoring spells in place to alert her if anything happened to Alicia that would require the attention of a mage, she took her other two patients back to base.

 

After locking the disturbingly powerful magic gemstone up as securely as could be done on short notice, Shamal had turned her attention to Nanoha. After scrutinizing her the girl's Linker Core as closely as she could for half an hour, Shamal reluctantly came to the conclusion that not only had Nanoha's actions earlier that day not damaged it in any way, the actions of her other disobedient patient had regenerated it to the point where she could barely tell that it had ever suffered the abuse that Nanoha had put it through over the past seven years.

 

As a result, Nanoha was cleared to fly once more. That night, as the city started to go to sleep, Nanoha summoned her Barrier Jacket. Taking Fate's hand, she called up her flight spell and launched herself into the air. Together they soared into the night sky, until the city was just a scattering of lights far below them.

 

"It's so beautiful up here." Nanoha mused.

 

"It is." Fate agreed.

 

"I thought I'd never be able to get up here again."

 

"I promised you that you'd return to the sky."

 

"Thank you for keeping me from losing hope, Fate."

 

They stood there, floating far above the city, admiring the view. As they looked down on Tokyo, an idea came to Nanoha on how to get some much-needed practice for her rusty flying skills. She allowed herself to drift almost out of arm's reach of Fate, then reached out to slap her on the shoulder.

 

"Tag! You're it!" She shouted, before darting into a nearby cloud.

 

Soon after, she heard Fate flying into the cloud after her. Nanoha dropped below the level of the cloud and flew off in a different direction from the way she entered. It didn't take too long for Fate to realize that she had left the cloud and started looking for her. Nanoha laughed as her friend spotted her and gave chase.

 

The game turned into a combination of tag and hide and seek. Fate had always been the faster flier, so in order to keep away, Nanoha had to use the clouds to cover her movements. But since Nanoha couldn't see where she was going in the clouds any more than Fate could, she had to leave the clouds regularly in order to get her bearings. The two darted in and out of the clouds, searching for each other and enjoying the fact that they could fly together for the first time in over half a year.

 

After fifteen minutes of hunting each other, Nanoha flew below a cloud, slowly rotating to see if anything was above her. Was there something dark moving in the cloud? Before she could figure out what it was, Fate dove out, tackling her and sending them both spinning down for close to a thousand feet before they stopped their descent.

 

The two stared into each other's eyes as they flew in each other's arms. Then their lips met.

 

Tomorrow they would have to worry about a war to win, a prisoner to rescue, and a system-wide calamity to avert. But tonight, they had the sky, and they had each other, and that was all they wanted.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hotaru suspected that she had been examined by every kind of medical scanning equipment available in the hospital over the course of the past twenty-four hours. Apart from her numerous prosthetics (Whose metallic components rendered the MRI scan useless), she wasn't sure that the doctors found anything. Then again, they didn't really know what they were looking for in the first place.

 

All the doctors knew was that her father had turned himself into a monster and had been in the process of doing the same to her. They had no idea what kind of medical side effects such a process could have on a body, so they were putting her through every test they could think of to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong with her beyond the issue which had landed her in the hospital in the first place - and which had gone away entirely after Dr Yagami and Sailor Mars had killed the monster that her father had put in her body.

 

Of course, as far as she was concerned, her actual problem wasn't any lingering health problems she might have had, but their origin. Her father had been trying to kill her. The loving parent who she thought had been burying himself in his work ever since her mother died only saw her as the vessel for an experiment that would have left her a prisoner in her own body as a monster used it for its own purposes, assuming it didn't kill her outright, leaving a monster with her face behind.

 

Perhaps that was the reason why most of her classmates hated her. The thing her father had put inside her had taken control of her body once, perhaps it had done so at other times, and made her do things to alienate her from virtually everyone she knew. If that was the case, though, she had no idea how she could possibly mend fences with them. Trying to explain that she had been possessed during whatever incidents they were angry at her for would just get them to think she was insane as well as weird.

 

The door to her room opened, and Hotaru's only friend walked in. It hadn't been that long ago that Hotaru had visited Alicia at the hospital to learn that her friend's only parent had killed people. Now their situations were reversed. No, her situation was worse. Precia Testarossa may have been murdering people, but she honestly thought what she was doing would help her child. Hotaru's father didn't have that excuse.

 

Alicia didn't speak. She didn't need to. One look in her eyes told Hotaru that she knew what had happened. She just sat by Hotaru's bedside and put an arm around her friend's shoulders. Hotaru clung to her friend and sobbed, grieving for the loss of both her family and the notion that the Tomoe household had actually _been_ a family. Her entire life had been been turned upside down repeatedly for weeks, and right now she needed the comfort of the only person who she could truly count on after the betrayal of the previous day.

 

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Beryl knew something was wrong when Kunzite returned alone. Where was Zoicite? Had he betrayed his queen as Nephrite had? If that was the case, her next order to Kunzite would be to bring back the prisoner in chains.

 

"Where is Zoicite?" She demanded as Kunzite knelt before her.

 

"M-my queen, I regret to inform you that your loyal servant Zoicite has died in battle against your enemies." Her general forced out the words reluctantly.

 

" _What?!_ Tell me what happened!"

 

"His plan for gathering life energy was discovered by the Senshi. He fell in single combat with Sailor Mercury."

 

This couldn't be possible. Jadeite being killed by the Moon Princess was one thing - the girl had power, even if she hadn't the slightest notion as to how to use it back in the Silver Millennium, but Mercury was the _weakest_ of the Senshi. How could she have possibly defeated one of her generals by herself?

 

_"How?"_

 

"Apparently she managed to crush him beneath a conjured boulder of pure ice. What remains of him is now pinned beneath the shattered fragments of the weapon that killed him in a large crater. Apparently the groundskeepers of the park in which he fell are planning to turn it into an ornamental pond." The last comment he spat out bitterly.

 

"What of his mission? Did he succeed in the task that I put before him before his death?"

 

"According to the news reports, the prisoner you had sent him to recapture had been slain by one of the Senshi's allies that same day."

 

That meant that the Senshi most likely had both the crystals and the Ginzuisho. Beryl's scream of rage echoed through the hall. When it died down, she noted that Kunzite had discretely left. She was about to track him down and punish him for his cowardice, but she stopped herself. She had only one loyal general left. She couldn't afford to lose him with the Senshi being so close to defeating her. Reining in her anger, Beryl started to plan.

 

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The afternoon after the Senshi and TSAB had fought so many battles, they gathered to discuss what had happened during that very hectic day. One by one, each of the participants in the various fights described what had been going on from their perspective and what they had done in response to it.

 

"And then after I took down the woman who attacked the policemen, they went in and probably started looking around. Whatever they found must have been big, because within half an hour there was something like a dozen other police cars swarming around the school." Makoto reported.

 

"I'll say it was big," Hayate commented. "We got contacted about it this morning. Apparently the head of the school - the person who turned into the Cyclops you fought at the hospital - was performing experiments on himself, his daughter, and possibly others as part of some insane plan to feed the entire planet to some monster from the Tau Nebula. The entire school is being shut down until they can figure out if any of the other teachers are involved, and whether or not any of the other students were experimented on."

 

"While my sister wouldn't have been going there for a few days anyway because she's being held for observation at the hospital, it's nice to know she won't be missing classes." Fate noted. "I've already contacted my brother about the alleged monster. Hopefully he be able to get some cruisers sent to where it's supposed to be. If it's there, we'll see if it can survive an Arc En Ciel to the face."

 

The Senshi were relieved that this was one threat that they wouldn't have to face in person (Three of them were also privately disappointed that it hadn't been _their_ school that had been shut down due to a police investigation). Then Rei stepped forward.

 

"There's something that worries me. I sensed a strange energy being awakened twice yesterday - once when trying to reach the battle with Precia, and once when heading towards the hospital. The first time it was in the general direction of where Precia was, and the second it was in the direction of where the Wolkenritter were fighting. I haven't felt that since I was just starting my miko training. The last time it had occurred was around the time of that massive storm that kicked up on the ocean with no warning seven years ago. It seemed even stronger this time, and the last time it had ended up knocking me out." Rei stated.

 

Fate looked sheepish. "Sorry about that."

 

"That was _you?!_ "

 

"I was hunting the Jewel Seeds for my mo-Precia. They were all underwater, so I had no choice to but to force them to activate if I wanted to find them." Fate shuddered. "If Nanoha hadn't gone against orders to help me, I would have died."

 

As the Senshi absorbed yet another piece of evidence on how deep the bond between their Princess and her partner, Rei inquired "Jewel Seeds?"

 

Hayate raised her staff. Eight blue crystals appeared, hovering in the air for a few seconds before going back into it. "These. They're part of a set of twenty-one that Yuuno discovered seven years ago. Twelve of them are currently locked away in a secure vault somewhere in TSAB-controlled space. The problem is that we only managed to recover eight of the nine Jewel Seeds that were last seen in Precia's possession. We don't know what happened to the ninth one. If any of you see it, approach with caution and let us know. An unsealed Jewel Seed is extremely dangerous, and as far as I can tell, Hino-san is the only one of you who knows anything resembling a sealing technique."

 

The Senshi nodded, acknowledging the point. After that, Nanoha briefly left the room and returned holding a large crystalline flower.

 

"Do any of you know what this is? It appeared out of nowhere shortly after all the battles yesterday. I keep getting the feeling that I've seen it before somewhere, but I'm not sure where. All I know is that it's apparently a Lost Logia of some kind." She asked.

 

"Lost Logia?" Artemis gasped. "That's... that's..."

 

"The Ginzusho." Luna finished. "The most important of the Crown Jewels of the Royal Family and the single most important artifact of the Moon Kingdom. It can do just about anything you can imagine. With that in hand, you have to power to stop Beryl once and for all."

 

"Didn't several of the rulers of the Moon Kingdom _die_ from using that?" Fate asked pointedly.

 

"Well, err..." Luna backtracked trying to find a way to explain that she hadn't actually been suggesting that the person who had saved Fate's life and then gone on to rescue her from an abusive family commit suicide.

 

"While it's nice to know that we've found this before our enemies did, I don't think I'll be using this unless it's absolutely necessary." Nanoha announced, as she called up her staff and sealed the Ginzuisho into it. "I just finished a half-year long convalescence from using too much magic, and I don't want to risk injuring myself again anytime soon.

 

"Now, unless there's anything else that someone wants to bring up, I think it's time we wrapped this up and started our training session."

 

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After the debriefing ended, the Senshi went outside for a training session. Unusually, instead of remaining inside to supervise at a distance, Nanoha joined them, idly sipping on a can of juice as she did so. The barrier went up, and the Senshi transformed. Nanoha called up her Barrier Jacket, finished the juice, and threw the can in the air.

 

A ball of pink light appeared and flew at the falling can. The can bounced off the shot, which then turned around to strike the can. As the Senshi all watched the bouncing can,

Nanoha addressed them.

 

"You may be wondering why I've come out to join you." She began. "Thanks to Hotaru-chan, my Linker Core has fully recovered. Shamal cleared me to use magic again last night. As a result, I am now able to play a direct part in your training.

 

"While I'm doing this, please remember that I've spent more than half a year recovering from my injuries. I've probably gotten a little out of shape in that time. So take it easy on me, okay?"

 

As Nanoha smiled sweetly, the can went flying, ricocheted off of a telephone pole, and landed perfectly into a garbage can.

 

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Saeko took the fish out of the oven and started setting the table. Her daughter would be home any minute now. The official reason she had decided to take a week off before returning to work at the hospital was to rest and make sure she was fully recovered, but the real reason was so that she take some time to be with her child.

 

She had been shocked to learn that her daughter had been one of the Sailor Senshi that had been rumored about for the past year and a half. Then she had been horrified to learn what the life of a Senshi had been like for most of that time. Her only child had been putting her life on the line several times a week for over a year, without any real training in how to protect herself or medical assistance other than Ami's limited self-trained skills. Saeko was quite frankly amazed that she hadn't ended up needing to go to the morgue to identify her daughter's body given the conditions she and her colleagues had been working in. The worst part was that throughout that entire time, she had been completely ignorant of the danger that Ami had been in. How neglectful a mother had she been to fail to notice that her only child had been in mortal peril on a regular basis for over a year?

 

The news that they had managed to eventually find the training and support they should have had from the start came as a great relief to Saeko, as did the fact that the Senshi appeared to finally be winning the secret war they had been fighting all this time. She was happy to hear that while Ami found the study of magic fascinating, she had had quite enough of battlefields, and was looking forward to the day when she could leave the rather dangerous life of a Senshi behind.

 

The door opened, and Ami staggered into the apartment.

 

"Ami! Are you alright?" Saeko exclaimed as the girl dragged herself to the couch.

 

"The princess... is... a monster." Ami gasped out.

 

"What happened?"

 

"This was the first time she was well enough to train us personally instead of just supervising. So after putting us through a grueling one-hour workout to help her get back in shape, she decided to have all of us try to hit her while she flew around firing back at us. All we had to do was hit her once to end the fight.

 

"It seemed so easy at first. We outnumbered her five to one. Then we found out how good she was at flying. She was practically dancing between our shots. And she had at least a dozen of pink things coming at us at all times, which kept changing direction on us. If that's what she's like when she's six months out of practice, I hope I never have to go against her when she's in her top form. If they didn't have a healer to patch us up after the fight was over, I'd be a solid bruise right now.

 

"It must have taken at least ten minutes of being used for target practice before we came up with a plan that actually allowed us to hit her. We ended up having Jupiter throw Venus to attack from the air while Mars, Kamen and I drew her attention.

 

"And while we were all fighting to keep our bodies unbruised, the princess was _smiling_. She was having the time of her life." Ami groaned as she accidentally put too much weight on a sore spot. "I can't wait for this war to be over."

 

"Are you sure you want to be doing this?" Saeko asked.

 

"Trust me, mom. If it was possible to walk away with a clear conscience, I think all of us would have done so months ago. I've come to enjoy learning about magic, but the fighting I can definitely live without."

 

Saeko helped her daughter up and got ehr to the dinner table. She, too, was looking forward to the day when her daughter no longer had to fight.

 

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Beryl looked over the notes she had taken. Yes, this could work. This had the potential to get her everything she needed in order to revive Metallia and crush Serenity once and for all. But she had to move quickly. It was only a matter of time before Serenity gained enough control over the Ginzuisho to become a direct threat.

 

"Kunzite!" She called out.

 

Within minutes, Kunzite heard her summons and was kneeling before her.

 

"What is you wish, my Queen?" He asked.

 

"Put as much resources as you can into completing the drones currently under construction. As soon as they are ready, we strike."

 

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A/N: Ami and Alicia actually have rather similar backgrounds. Only one parental figure in their lives (Alicia's father doesn't even rate a casual mention explaining who he is/was or why he's not part of his daughter's life), who is almost always busy with her job instead of her child. Only Saeko appears to be doing this at least partially by choice, while Precia was forced into it by the short-sighted decisions of her superiors, whose foolishness killed her daughter right at the moment she thought she'd be able to make it up to her. I wish I could have found a way to get that into the story.

 

To anyone speculating about whether this chapter foreshadows Alicia/Hotaru: Not in the scope of this story. If you want to speculate about what might happen ten years or so down the line, that's your own business.

 

I know that this chapter is a lot smaller than the previous two, but I write to the plot point, not the word count. Those last chapters were huge by my standards.


	16. The Battle of Tokyo

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or MGLN.

The White Devil of the Moon  
By Bissek  
Chapter 15  
The Battle of Tokyo

Fate had sent a lot of video letters over the years. She had started shortly after being arrested for her role in Precia's attempt to use the Jewel Seeds to reach Al-Hazard as a way to keep in touch with Nanoha while on her way to court. After she had started working for the TSAB full time, she had gotten back into the habit when her work as an investigator kept her away from her family and friends for weeks or months at a time. Setting up the camera, she readied herself to record yet another one.

"Hello, mother." She said as she started the recording.

"I got the message you sent about the birth of the twins. I've gotten Amy and Chrono a present to congratulate them on the event. I'll be sending it to Mid-Childa with the courier that Hayate requested to transport some Lost Logia we collected during our current case.

"My relationship with Nanoha has changed somewhat since the last time I wrote you," Fate continued with a slight blush on her face. "While I'm sure that you don't to hear all the details about your daughter's love life, it's a good thing that I was able to find that enormous bed in the quartermaster's depot when I was furnishing my apartment." Her blush deepened, and Fate found herself realizing that she didn't want to discuss her love life in any further detail any more than she imagined her mother wanted to hear about it. She hastily changed the subject.

"I'm sure you've heard by now that Precia's resurfaced. I ended up running into her. It didn't turn out well." Fate sighed in regret. "She's dead. I killed her. I wish it hadn't been necessary, but I didn't have any choice. She was in the process of activating the Jewel Seeds she had gotten from me seven years ago. All of them at once, in the middle of a school. There was no telling what could have happened if I hadn't taken her down.

"But Precia's reappearance resulted in one thing I certainly didn't expect, which I doubt that you would have seen coming, either. There's someone I want you to meet." Pasuing the recording, Fate left the room, returning a minute later with a second person. Fate led her companion in front of the camera and started recording again.

Alicia looked nervously at the camera. What was she supposed to say to the woman who had taken her sister in after their mother had rejected her? "Uh, hi. I'm Alicia. My sister's told me a lot about you."

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Beryl was tired of waiting. Her early strategy of slowly gathering energy to revive Metallia had resulted in nothing more than month after month of frustration and negligible progress. She wanted to win a decisive victory for once, especially since Serenity and her allies had already killed two of her generals and subverted a third. She was reaching the end of her patience. When would Kunzite finish with the preparations for her master plan?

She was considering seeking her last surviving loyal general out to demand to know why the work was taking so long when the subject of her thoughts entered her throne room and knelt before her.

"My Queen, I am pleased to tell you that the construction of the combat drones is now complete. The army of the Dark Kingdom stands ready for your command." He announced.

Beryl smiled coldly.

"For too long we have been hiding in the shadows," She declared. "It is time that we stopped hiding from the people of Earth and showed them who their true masters are. No more shall we be sneaking about in the darkness, trying to steal energy from unsuspecting victims without been seen by the Senshi. From now on, we shall seize the power we seek openly!"

She rose from her throne, her arm reaching out to point towards the door. "Go forth, my General! Take all of the drones, and as many of the youma as you can transport! Attack the city the humans call Tokyo! Bring death and destruction wherever you go! When next I look upon that city, I want to see my forces rampaging through the streets, and my enemies scattered and unable to stem the tide that will drown them all!"

Kunzite rose to his feet. "As you command, my Queen." Bowing, he backed out of the throne room to carry our her commands. When the door closed, Beryl began to laugh, anticipating the victory that awaited her as she went to retrieve her crystal ball so that she could watch the upcoming slaughter.

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The attack was totally unexpected. One minute, the city was as peaceful as a city with more than ten million people living in it could get. The next, youma and drones were rampaging through the city in over a dozen places, bringing devastation wherever they went.

There was no subtlety to the attack. The Dark Kingdom agents simply attacked anyone that crossed their path and destroyed anything that got in their way. Half the time they didn't even bother to drain the life energy from their victims. The police were out in force trying to contain the chaos and get the people to safety. The JGSDF First Division was mobilized to repel the invaders. But between people panicking in the streets and the fact that they didn't have nearly enough helicopters to transport an entire division, it would take time for them to transport enough people to where they were needed to make a difference.

The TSAB was caught off guard just as much as everyone else was. But they had advantages that allowed them to move through the panicked streets much faster than the local authorities. The main ones being the existence of transportation spells and the fact that most of their top people could fly under their own power. Hayate ordered Shamal to start teleporting the ground troops to locations near known attack points. She then sent Nanoha, Fate and the rest of the Wolkenritter to fly the Senshi over the traffic to their own battlegrounds before seeking out places where they could help out.

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The Senshi had been fearing an all-out attack like this for a long time. While none of them had the slightest idea as to how large the army Beryl had at her command was, it was clear that she had far more manpower to call on than they did. Venus had killed more youma than there were Senshi long before any of the others had awakened, and it hadn't taken that much time for the others to duplicate the feat. The possibility that Beryl would decide that she had enough troops to crush the Senshi by sheer weight of numbers had been hanging over their heads from the moment they remembered enough of their previous lives to realize that they were fighting an actual war instead of just a series of monster attacks. It was a good thing that the idea of doing so hadn't occurred to Beryl until after the Senshi had been reinforced.

Mercury flew over the streets of Tokyo, carried by Vita. As Mercury looked down at the city, she wondered how the flight spell worked. She had to weigh close to half again as much as the girl carrying her, and yet Vita showed no sign of encumbrance. The magic she had seen in her time interacting with the TSAB was absolutely fascinating...

Mercury dragged herself away from that train of thought as she saw a group of youma and a combat drone in the street below her. Forming an icicle in her hand, she waited as Vita flew her closer. As they approached one member of the group who was separated from the others, Vita dropped her and flew off in search of her own targets to deal with.

Mercury landed on the youma, knocking it to the ground before it even knew it was under attack. Finishing it off with the icicle, she rose to check her surroundings. The nearest group of youma was far too busy menacing some civilians to notice that she had just taken one of them out. Good. That meant she could get it one more surprise attack.

The youma were too busy intimidating their victims to notice the Fractal Ice Prison forming beneath them until it was too late. As they struggled to free themselves from the razor-edged cage they were trapped in, the people they had been attacking took the opportunity to flee, barely taking a moment to shout a word of thanks to their rescuer before running away.

The screams of rage and pain from the dying youma alerted their companions to the presence of an enemy. They turned and saw one of their natural enemies waiting for them. Roaring defiance, they charged at their foe.

The two surviving youma were struck by a beam of pure cold and froze solid. They fell to the ground and shattered. That left the drone.

Mercury rolled to the side as the drone's sword swung through the place she had been standing. Firing a quick spell, she locked its joints in ice to buy her some time. Quickly looking around, she saw something that could give her an advantage.

Rushing over to the fire hydrant, she opened it up and plugged the hose connector with a ball of ice. Then she hurriedly fashioned a crude wrench of ice on top of the hydrant. As the drone freed its limb from the ice and came after her, Mercury waited until it was lined up properly, then pulled the wrench.

The ice wrench broke off in her hand. But it had served its purpose. Water pressure built up in the hydrant as it tried to empty its contents into the street but couldn't due to the plug of ice. The pressure increased until it finally forced the plug out of the hydrant, firing it at the drone like a crude cannonball.

The shot wasn't strong enough to break through the drone's armor. But it did have enough momentum to knock it over. Mercury took advantage of the opening to freeze the entire machine to the street. Knowing that it would break free in time, she dashed to her immobile enemy and started examining it carefully. Finding a seam in the armor on one of the joints, she put her hand on it and started casting. Ice crystals formed inside the drone, cutting wires, jamming mechanisms and breaking through circuits. Eventually the ice did enough damage to shut the machine down.

Mercury stood up and pulled out her communicator. This batch of enemies had been dealt with, but there were plenty more where they had come from. It was time to see where she was needed next.

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Jupiter was close enough to the nearest group of enemies that she didn't need to be airlifted there. Even with the streets crowded with panicked people, travelling the two blocks didn't take too much time (The fact that her magically enhanced muscles allowed her to hurdle cars helped).

Less than five minutes after transforming, Jupiter reached her target, a group of three drones and maybe two dozen youma. As the drones were closer, she focused her attention on them. She knew from her first fight with them that while their outer armor was immune to her electrical powers, a direct hit with a bolt of lightning would take them down if it hit an unarmored section. All she had to do was find a way to get past the armor. It was something she had spent some time thinking about since her last run-in with one of them.

Jupiter opened the fight with a high kick aimed at the shoulder joint of one of the drones. The heel of her boot penetrated the armor. The hole wasn't deep enough to do any actual damage, but that didn't matter. All she needed was a hole large enough to aim at. One quick spell later, a spark flew into the gap in the armor, burning out circuits and leaving the drone a useless hunk of metal.

The other two drones were alerted by the sound of their counterpart going down and turned to attack her. Jupiter stepped inside the attack of one of them, grabbing its arm and rotating, forcing it into the path of the other drone. After shooting electricity into the gash opened by its own ally, she focused her attention on the third one and knocked it into the wreckage of the first drone. It quickly rose off the ground, but the cracks in its armor were all Jupiter needed to finish it off.

But the time it had taken her to defeat the drones had allowed the youma to realize she was there and get ready to fight. As she finished off the last drone, she saw them spread around her in a half circle. She got off a spell that took out the ones directly in front of her, but by the time she did that, the ones that were flanking her were close enough to strike.

The lead youma leaped at her, latching onto her arms. Then the others closed in on her. With her arms immobilized, Jupiter could only fight back with her feet and her head, and that wasn't nearly enough to allow her to fight against so many foes, especially since she couldn't dodge or block any attacks. It wouldn't be long before the youma were able to swarm her under.

Jupiter gritted her teeth. She was not going to be mobbed and torn apart. Not again. Calling upon her magic, she electrified her entire body. The youma screamed in pain as they were cooked alive. Within seconds, Jupiter's captors were nothing but ash, and she was free.

The youma knew enough about basic tactics to come at her from all sides several at a time, but Jupiter had survived weeks of training on how to keep track of threats from multiple directions. Between trying to hit all those stupid rubber balls and having to avoid the penalties that her teachers had exacted whenever she or any of her colleagues made a mistake, she had gotten very good at it.

A youma sneaking up behind her was knocked back by an elbow strike as she kicked another one coming up on her right. While she punched a youma in front of her in the face, she backhanded one coming up on her left. Ducking under a blow from behind, she grabbed the attacking arm and threw her attacker into a group of youma coming at her, then smashed the entire group with an axe kick before they could rise. The moment her foot returned to the ground, she spun around, taking down another youma with a spinning roundhouse kick.

Again and again the youma threw themselves at their hated enemy, and again and again Jupiter beat them back. Finally the last youma dissolved into dust, and Sailor Jupiter stood alone on the field of battle. But Jupiter didn't have time to revel in her victory. There were a lot more enemies out there that needed to be dealt with.

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It was Saeko's first day back at work since being released from the hospital as a patient rather than an employee, and it was quite clear that she would not be getting home to her daughter at a reasonable hour, and neither would anyone else. Every hospital in Tokyo was swamped with the injured resulting from the attack, and more patients were still coming in.

Juuban General was full up. Every hospital in Minato was full up, with the hospitals in the other wards rapidly reaching that state as well. All treatments for the existing patients in the hospital was reduced to an absolute minimum as the staff tried to get the tide of new patients under control.

It wasn't pretty. They didn't have enough surgical teams to treat all of the critically injured, and didn't have enough operating theaters for them to work in even if they did. Because of this, the rest of the hospital staff was stuck performing the ugliest of all medical duties: triage. While nurses tried to just stitch up the lightly wounded so that they could be gotten out of the way as quickly as possible (Not that the treated patients had anywhere to go once they were no longer in need of medical attention, given the chaos outside), the doctors had the painful task of deciding which of the more seriously injured patients were likely to survive long enough for an operating room and surgical team to become available to try to save them and do what they could to keep their conditions from worsening. If someone wasn't judged to be likely to live that long (And with the ever-increasing number of people waiting for surgery, 'that long' was getting longer every minute), then all the doctors could afford to do was give them some painkillers so that they wouldn't suffer when they passed away. And given how many patients they had, the doctors were facing the possibility that they might have to suspend that slim mercy due to a lack of drugs. And even more people might end up on that list due to a lack of medicines and blood packs.

Saeko had it worse than the other doctors. They only had to worry because their loved ones might end up running into the monsters attacking Tokyo while they worked. Saeko knew that her daughter was running into them. She was seeking them out on purpose. Saeko had run into two patients who only managed to survive to reach the hospital because Sailor Mercury had saved them. If her daughter managed to make it back home in one piece tonight, Saeko wasn't sure if she should tell her how proud she was of what she'd done this day or demand she immediately give up her insanely dangerous hobby.

Looking down at the patient in front of her, Saeko sighed. This one wasn't going to make it. His injuries weren't all that complicated, but blood loss would finish him off long before any possible treatment could do any good, especially since the hospital's rapidly dwindling supply of blood bags was prioritized for patients with a higher chance of survival. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a syringe. As she fitted it with a clean needle so she could fill it with morphine, someone walked up behind her. Assuming it was another member of the hospital staff trying to triage everyone in the ward, Saeko paid the figure no mind until it walked by her to the patient and she saw that it was a little girl.

Since the girl wasn't visibly injured, she clearly wasn't one of the patients awaiting triage. She was probably one of the more normal patients who had left her room and gone for a walk. Given that the regular wards were stripped down to a skeleton crew and everyone in the triage wards was far too busy to take much note of a wandering child, it wasn't too surprising that she had managed to get to the triage ward without being stopped, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't belong there. Nobody on the staff had the time to keep track of a child who wasn't in immediate need of medical attention, and a room full of injured and dying people wasn't something that an impressionable young mind should be seeing. The poor girl would probably have nightmares for days over what she had already seen.

But before Saeko could inform the girl that the ward was not a place for children and tell her to return to her room, she had walked up to the wounded man and placed her hands above his injury. Saeko's eyes widened in shock as she saw the injury start rapidly healing. In a matter of a few minutes, a man who she had given up on as beyond help given the hospital's current resources was perfectly fine.

Saeko had been forced to acknowledge the existence of Magical Girls when a group of them ended up getting their picture on the front page of every paper in Japan. Then she discovered that her daughter was one. Now she was facing another one, one whose talents were more suited towards medicine than warfare.

She didn't bother asking how the girl had done it. From what her daughter had told her, there were literally hundreds of different schools of magic out there, many of which operated on totally different principles, some of which didn't even require a basic understanding of those principles before you could start using it. What ultimately mattered was that she potentially had a way to save many of the lives that she had been forced to write off. Even if the girl was only capable of healing relatively simple wounds (What could happen if she incorrectly reassembled someone's internal organs didn't bear thinking on), by doing so she could free up trained staff to work on the more difficult cases, and since her spell didn't appear to need drugs, sutures, or any other form of normal medical equipment, the people she freed up would be better equipped to save lives.

"What's your name?" She asked the girl.

"Hotaru. Hotaru Tomoe." The girl replied. The girl seemed nervous, almost as if she was expecting someone to be angry at her for what she'd just done.

"Do you think you can do that again?"

Hotaru nodded emphatically. The girl seemed delighted that her actions were met with approval. "I'll try to heal as many people as I can."

"Good." Saeko looked at the all the other patients in the room, and thought of the dozens of other casualties in the hospital. "We have a lot of work ahead of us, Hotaru. We'd better get to it."

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Sailor Mars dropped from the sky and rolled to her feet. As Zafira flew away to head to another trouble spot, she started running to her own area of responsibility. It took her less than a minute to reach her destination.

The youma had created a real mess. Not only had they attacked anyone they had run into on the street, they had also set an apartment building on fire and were attacking anyone trying to leave, along with the firemen trying to evacuate the building and put out the fire. The residents who hadn't been able to reach a fire escape in an alley or the back of the building were trapped in the lobby, stuck between the spreading flames and the rampaging monsters.

The youma, along with the drone accompanying them, had apparently figured out that the Senshi were being airdropped into battles. They had a lookout watching the skies as the others attacked the helpless civilians. It was a good thing that Mars had suspected that they might do that eventually and asked to be dropped off just outside the target area this time.

The youma's first warning that a Senshi had arrived was when their lookout burst into flames. Several more joined it before they could react. As the remaining youma turned their attention to their attacker, the trapped residents of the building took advantage of their tormentor's distraction to flee the building.

The remaining youma were easy to finish off. The drone was another matter. Mars knew that her fire was useless against its armor. At least, it was useless by itself. As she dodged its attacks, she called out to a group of firemen who had managed to attach a fire hose to a hydrant.

"Hose down the robot on my signal!" She ordered as she engulfed the machine in flames. The drone continued its advance, unable to feel pain and undamaged by the fire. But she knew that its armor was heating up, and that was all she needed.

"NOW!" She snapped as the air around the drone started to shimmer in the heat. A torrent of water crashed into it, cooling the super-hot metal. Unable to handle the rapid temperature change, the armor started to crack. Grabbing a fireman's axe from one of the fire engines, Mars hurled it at the damaged drone.

It was a lousy throw. Mars hadn't ever training with throwing weapons before, and the axe was meant for making holes in doors and walls so firefighters could reached people trapped by fires, not for use as a projectile. The axe hit obliquely on the edge of the damaged section of the armor and bounced off. But the hit had broken open a section of the armor, and that was all she needed. Mars cast another spell at the drone, firing into the gap in the armor to melt circuitry and wires.

As the robot crashed to the ground, Mars took in the scene. As she stared at the burning building, she went into a divinatory trance, trying to ascertain if there were any more youma in the immediate vicinity. She didn't find any, but she found something else that was more disturbing.

"There are still five people trapped in the building." She announced.

That drew the immediate attention of the firefighters, and a group of them were right behind her as she ran into the inferno. Darting into a stairwell, she charged up the stairs as quickly as she could, the firemen right on her heels. When she reached the fourth floor, she paused to let them catch up with her.

"Two people. Halfway down the hall, on the left." She explained hurriedly before resuming her climb. Most of the firemen followed her, with the remainder staying to rescue the people she had located on that floor. Twice more she paused in her climb to tell the firemen where to find the trapped residents before continuing her climb. On her last stop on the seventh floor, she left the last of them behind trying to clear a path through the wreckage between them and the person in danger, leaving her to go after the last person on the tenth floor alone.

Running through the flames as quickly as she could, Mars soon found herself outside the door where the last trapped resident was located. Kicking the door open, she hurried into the smoke-filled room. Using her divination skills to make up for the lack of visibility, it wasn't hard for her to find the child lying unconscious on the floor. But before she could make her way back out, part of the ceiling collapsed, blocking the doorway.

If the ceiling had caved in at one point, it could very well cave in again while she was trying to clear a path back to the stairwell. The boy she had found also looked to be in bad shape. If he had already passed out from smoke inhalation, then she couldn't afford to wait for the rescue workers to set up a ladder, assuming they had one that could reach the tenth floor on hand. There was only one way out - which would have been outright suicidal if she hadn't been a Senshi.

Taking the boy in her arms, she ran away from the blocked door and jumped out the window. As she dropped to the street below, she held the child close, taking the full brunt of the landing herself.

Had Sailor Mars been an ordinary human, the landing would have broken her legs, and quite possibly the rest of her as well. But her magically enhanced durability allowed her to land without injuring herself. Handing the child over to some rescue workers, Mars dusted herself off and took a few breaths of smoke-free air. Looking back to the building, she saw some of the firefighters that had followed her into the flames coming back out with more of the people who had been trapped there.

One more fight was over. But the battle was still raging elsewhere in the city. Sailor Mars stared at the fire long enough to learn where the nearest group of youma could be found and then headed out for her next engagement.

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Usagi Tsukino ran through the streets of Tokyo, occasionally looking behind her to see if the creatures chasing her were still after her.

All she had been planning to do that day was hang out with her friend Naru. Then a bunch of monsters smashed their way into the Crown Arcade. As they rampaged through the arcade and the adjacent ice cream parlor, it quickly became apparent that the Sailor Senshi weren't coming, or at least, they wouldn't be getting there quickly enough.

Usagi had cowered in a corner of the parlor, hoping that the creatures wouldn't notice her as they attacked anyone that ended up within arm's reach of them. Then one of them grabbed Naru. Seeing the look of terror in her best friend's face, Usagi knew that she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Not if she wanted to be able to look at herself in the mirror ever again. She grabbed an ice cream dish from behind the counter and threw it at the monster, hoping to distract it long enough for Naru to get away.

The bowl failed to injure the monster. It didn't even make it flinch. But it did make the creature holding Naru to lose interest in her current victim and focus its attention on the person who had dared to attack it. So did all the other monsters.

Usagi only managed to avoid getting clawed open by the monster she had attacked because she stumbled over a chair while trying to get away, both falling down herself and knocking the chair into the path of her attacker. As she hastily climbed to her feet, she saw an open path to the exit and bolted with all the speed gained from years of hurrying to school in an effort to not be too late, with all of the monsters chasing after her as soon as they realized she was getting away.

The streets outside were full of panicking people. Fortunately for Usagi, once those people saw what was chasing her, they invariably decide to panic in a different direction, allowing her to flee without getting stuck in crowds. Running through the streets without any real destination in mind, only a need to get away from the monsters hunting her, she eventually ended up running into another group of monsters, this one accompanied by a pair of robots.

That explained why the Senshi hadn't shown up to save anyone at the arcade - they were probably busy saving other people from the monsters elsewhere. Not that knowing this was going to help her, as Usagi found herself trapped between two groups of monsters. This was it. She was going to die. As the monsters closed in on her, Usagi felt a twinge of regret that the last time she spoke with her father had been an argument about how badly she was doing in school...

Over a dozen pink lights flashed through the air, turning the monsters closest to Usagi into dust. Looking up, Usagi saw her rescuer. It wasn't one of the Senshi. It was one of the other magical girls that had ended up in the newspaper after that monster attack on the wedding all those weeks before. As Usagi looked on the figure in white and blue who stood in the air as if she was standing on solid ground, she thought that she had never seen anyone look so regal in her life.

The monsters turned their attention from the schoolgirl who had attacked one of them in desperation to the magical girl who was an actual threat. It didn't do them any good. The girl in white practically danced between their attacks, countering with balls of pink light that they weren't able to dodge nearly as well. A glow formed on the girl's staff, and a beam of light blasted through one of the robots, out the other side, and into the other. Soon there was only one monster left, who appeared to have more intelligence than the others. Rather than continuing with futile attacks on the magical girl, it grabbed Usagi by the throat.

"Come down, or the girl dies!" It demanded. The girl complied. "Put down your staff!" The staff dropped to the ground.

Usagi gulped in terror. Why was she listening to the monster? Usagi really doubted that it would let her go whether the other girl followed its instructions or not. Didn't she understand that she was dooming them both?

"Good," The monster continued, contempt dripping from its voice, "Now I want you to..." The monster never finished the sentence, as it abruptly dissolved into dust. 

As Usagi rubbed her throat, she saw the other girl calmly retrieve her staff.

"How...?" Usagi wondered aloud.

"I had my shot loop around the building and take the youma from behind," The other girl explained, "I just needed to play for time until it finished circling." Then the girl looked at her curiously. "Why were they chasing you?"

"I - I hit one of them because it was threatening my friend, and then they all went after me instead. I tried to run away, but I just ended up running into more of them."

"I see. That was a very brave thing you did."

Brave? It hadn't seemed like that to Usagi. All she had done was one desperate act to try to help her friend, followed by several minutes of fleeing in terror. That didn't seem very heroic to her.

"How are you able to do all that?" Usagi asked.

"Training. Years of training and hard work. It may have been chance that first led to me learning magic, but I've gotten to where I am today by spending a lot of time over the past seven years mastering it.

"I'm not the chosen one of some prophecy or the heir of some legendary sorceress who could terrify dragons just by introducing herself. I'm just a girl who found her calling in life and has taken the effort to be as good at it as I possibly can." The girl paused, as if listening to something only she could hear. "I have to go. There's more youma out there that need to be dealt with."

A pair of pink wings appeared beneath the magical girl's feet as she floated off the ground and flew away. As she watched the other girl clear the rooftops, Usagi wondered if she could find a purpose in life that she could devote herself to like that.

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Signum flew over the skies of Tokyo, carrying Sailor Venus with her. A large number of drones were attacking the Imperial Palace, and they were the ones who had been detailed to deal with it. While the palace had the advantage of actually having security personnel present to try to stop the attackers, Signum doubted that the Imperial Guard had anything on hand suited for repelling homicidal robots. And without something that could do that, all they could do was buy time with their lives.

Signum's assessment turned out to be accurate. When they arrived, there were dead and wounded men scattered around the entrance that the drones had forced, having been cut down trying to protect the compound and those in it. The drones had split into two groups, one of which was heading into the main section, and the other to an island to the east of the main palace grounds. They had already separated too much to be all taken at once.

Coming to a quick decision, Signum dove to the ground and dropped off her passenger. "I'll take the group heading east! You go after the others!" She ordered before turning in pursuit of her designated targets. She would just have to trust her student to be able to handle the rest of them.

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Outside of Fukiage Garden, a detachment of the Imperial Guard tried in vain to hold back their attackers. They didn't know where the machines had come from, or who the man ordering them was, and they didn't care. All that mattered was that they had to keep them from reaching the Emperor.

Unfortunately, nothing they tried seemed to work. Bullets just bounced off the armor of the machines without doing any damage, and the man was equally capable of protecting himself against them. With luck, the JGSDF reinforcements they had called for and were being flown in by the first available helicopter would have something that could make a difference, but unless they showed up quickly, the machines would likely overrun the men trying to defend Fukiage Garden and the East Gardens and kill everyone there.

It might not even much longer. They were running out of ammunition, and even with their guns being almost totally useless against their opponents, they were the only weapons they had.

In the distance, a figure ran towards the battle. Nobody wasted any time wondering who it could be. If it was another enemy, then their situation wouldn't get any notably worse than it already was. If it was a civilian, then he or she was incredibly stupid and soon to be dead. If it was an ally, then he or she was incredibly brave and also soon to be dead. After all, they were barely able to slow the robots down, what could one person do to stop...

There was a teeth-aching tearing sound, and one of the machines fell to the ground, having been cut cleanly in two. As it dropped the Guardsmen saw what had done it. The robot had been diagonally sliced in half by a sword that appeared to be made out of some sort of crystal. Wielding that sword was a teenaged girl, who didn't look nearly strong enough to cut through a sizable amount of metal with one swing, no matter how sharp the sword was. A girl wearing a sailor fuku in white, blue and orange.

"Leave these things to me," Sailor Venus called out. "Bullets won't do any good against them."

Then their unexpected savior brought her sword back to a guard position and launched an attack at another one of the robots.

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Venus sidestepped an attack from a drone, then cut off its limb and followed through with a slash that put it out of commission. Knocking another drone backward by punching it with the hilt of her sword, she spun around to face the enemies that were closing in from behind.

Her entry into the battle had gotten the drones to focus on her as the most serious threat in the area. That had taken the pressure off the Guard, allowing them to get their wounded clear of the battlefield. And while it was good to know that they were no longer in danger, the fact that all of the enemies that would have been attacking them were now attacking her kept her from thinking on that too much.

An overhand swing cut deeply into one drone. Kicking it off her sword and into another two, she blocked an attack from the side and forced its weapon out of position, following it up with a thrust that went completely through it. She cut down three more drones when she heard a blow coming from behind her. Turning quickly, she brought her sword up to guard, only to find that her opponent wasn't another drone.

"This is sort of like the last time we crossed blades, isn't it, Sailor Venus" Kunzite taunted. "Let's see if you'll fail as badly as you did back then this time."

Venus didn't bother speaking a reply. She just struck, slicing a thin line in his left cheek before he could get out of the way. He thrust his blade at her chest, and she deflected it upwards before spinning to cut down a drone behind her and bringing her blade up to block Kunzite's next attack. Kunzite went straight from the block into a second strike, which nicked her leg before she could stop it.

Back and forth they fought across the grounds. Each managed to score a handful of minor cuts on the other, but nothing large or deep enough to hinder their ability to fight. Any advantage either gained over the other was lost before it could be taken full advantage of. Then her attempt to block a powerful strike resulted in their blades being locked together. Kunzite pressed against her, hoping to use his larger mass to force her sword out of position. Or was he?

Before she realized the trap, two of the surviving drones flanked her, leaving Venus boxed in. She couldn't move to the sides. If she disengaged to block an attack from either flank, Kunzite would cut her down. If she concentrated on Kunzite, the drones would get her.

"And so it ends, Sailor Venus. You die a failure twice over." Kunzite mocked. 

Inwardly, Venus cringed. He was right. For the second time he had beaten her with the life of a monarch on the line. But before the final blow could land, there was a pair of explosions and the drones were blasted away. Not taking time to wonder about her good fortune, Venus pivoted on one foot, freeing herself from the blade lock and giving herself an opening to slash his left arm.

As Kunzite recovered from the blow, Venus caught sight of what had saved her. Apparently, the Imperial Guard had been reinforced by the JGSDF. And while bullet were useless against the drones, rocket propelled grenades worked quite well. With allies capable of dealing with the drones around her, Venus could safely focus on the Dark General. She resumed her attack.

The wound to Kunzite's arm weakened him, but the match was still too equal. He had fought with her before, and they both remembered how that fight went. He knew her style as well as she knew his, which meant they both had a good notion of what the other was going to do at any time, and ready a defense before the other could launch their attack. Kunzite's wound would make him weaken faster, but not quickly enough that he couldn't reverse the fight with a lucky strike of his own. And it was quite possible he could find a chance to do so, since he knew how she fought.

Venus smiled to herself. That knowledge was the reason he was about to lose.

A swing to the right side of Kunzite's head was quickly deflected. As the blow slid downwards, Venus jerked back at her opponent for a weak strike at her waist. It was also blocked, but she was expecting that. Spinning around, she used the momentum of her turn to launch a far stronger attack on Kunzite's other side. Kunzite deflected the blow upward, reflexively moving his sword to a high block position to stop the overhead chop he knew was coming next. 

"Ha!" Kunzite snorted. "You think I..." 

He never finished the sentence, because Venus stabbed him in the throat.

"I've learned a few new moves since we last fought." She said coldly.

Kunzite's sword dropped from his hand as the tip of the crystal blade emerged from the back of his neck. Venus snapped the blade to the side, half-severing his neck as it cuts its way free. The Dark General fell to the ground and bled out in seconds.

Venus turned to the Guardsmen and soldiers who had fought against the rampaging drones and brought her bloody sword up in a salute. Looking at the girl who had ensured that they had survived long enough to get an opportunity to fight back, they solemnly returned the salute.

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The battle raged throughout the day. Soldiers fought the drones with anti-tank weaponry while the Senshi and their TSAB allies battled both drones and youma with magic and magical weaponry. Slowly the number of attackers were whittled down and order was restored to large portions of the city.

And while the battle was fought, Beryl watched, waiting for the perfect time and place to strike. Her enemies were scattered across the city, being slowly worn down. All she needed to do was figure out which one was weakened enough to be struck down quickly before the others could come to her aid. Then she could retreat until the next one faltered, at which point she could launch another ambush.

She was losing many of her troops, including the last of her of her faithful generals, but if she could crush the Senshi before Serenity could figure out how to call on the power of the Ginzuisho, it would be worth it. Even if the Ginzuisho was lost, with the Senshi gone, she could gather all the life energy she wanted at her leisure.

As she surveyed the city, Beryl noticed one person with obviously magical abilities who wasn't visibly contributing to the battle. She was just floating above the city. What was she doing there? Then it occurred to her: this girl was coordinating the Senshi somehow. If Beryl took her out first, then the Senshi would be less able to deal with her servants. Having identified her first target, Beryl prepared to attack.

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Hayate hovered over Tokyo Tower, concentrating on the equations needed to create a cold, slow-moving, damp wind to help contain the fires burning throughout the city. She wished she could do something that would allow her to contribute more directly to the fight, but her usual talents weren't really suited for urban warfare. If she started using combat spells, she'd probably level half the city, and they didn't have the ability to even try to evacuate the area before she started firing.

It was hard to just watch the battle without being able to participate in any manner other than support. There were dozens of buildings that were either on fire or damaged by fire (Once Hayate realized that Mars had gotten good enough with her fire divination to be able to locate anyone trapped inside a burning building at a glance, she'd made a point of sending her to every incursion point where fires were breaking out that she could). Many of the soldiers fighting in the streets had been killed or wounded because they didn't realize that bullets could only temporarily inconvenience the youma and tried to take them on before someone with the skills to handle them could arrive. She didn't even want to think about the civilian casualties. If each ambulance only carried one person on each trip, there were still far too many people getting hurt in this attack.

Her efforts to help stop one of the problems in the city came to abrupt halt when she suddenly found herself under attack. Trying to regain control of her flight as she tumbled from the sky, she caught sight of her attacker. It was a red-headed woman who matched the description she had been given of Beryl, ruler of the Dark Kingdom. It seemed that the Dark Kingdom really was going all out on this attack.

Hayate did her best against her opponent, but it really wasn't a contest. She might have been the most powerful mage in living memory (At least, before the discovery of Hotaru Tomoe), but she wasn't a very good fighter. She could raze the entire planet down to bedrock if she put her mind to it, but she didn't know any spells suited for attacking anything smaller than a city block. She also didn't have any combat skills that didn't involve a significant charging time, or the talent for running multiple complex calculations through her head simultaneously, though being in unison with Rein made that a lot easier.

As a weapon of war, Hayate's talents ranged from heavy artillery to weapon of mass destruction. And Hayate ended up being given a hard lesson in why you shouldn't bring a siege cannon to a knife fight. It was a good thing that she'd called for help the moment she realized she was under attack, at least that way there was a chance that someone would show up in time to make a difference.

Hayate's hopes for relief were in vain. It took less than a minute for Beryl to take her down. As she laid in the cracked pavement, feebly trying to reach her broken staff, she saw the Device eject the objects that had been sealed within in. She knew there was going to be more trouble when she saw a hand snatch the Jewels Seeds within moments.

"So that's what happened to Precia's crystals." Beryl gloated. "With these, I have all the energy I need to revive Metallia! Enjoy your final moments while they last, witch."

Beryl laughed as she disappeared.

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Shortly after Beryl vanished, all the flight-capable members of the TSAB arrived, carrying the Senshi in tow. Shamal immediately got to work healing her mistress.

"What happened?" Nanoha asked.

"It was Beryl. She ambushed me. She took the Jewel Seeds, said that they held enough power to revive Metallia." Hayate gasped.

Fate grimaced. "Well, that explains why she had one of her Generals hunting Precia. And what happened to the last Jewel Seed."

"That's not important!" Jupiter protested. "If we don't find a way to stop her, Beryl's going to wake Metallia up! Once that happens, she could kill everything on Earth!"

"But how are we supposed to find her?" Mercury wondered.

There was a pause as they considered how they were supposed to locate their enemy in time to make a difference. Then Fate had an idea.

"Mars, you said before that you were able to sense the Jewel Seeds back when Nanoha and I were fighting over them seven years ago, and were still able to sense them when Precia activated them earlier. Do you think you could divine their location?"

"I'll try." Mars created a ball of fire in her hand and stared into it. Sweat formed on her brow as she focused on the sensations she had felt every time the Jewel Seeds had been activated. An endless minute passed, and then she looked up. "I have them."

"Keep their location focused in your mind." Fate instructed, as she reached out to touch Mar's mind with her own. She didn't know how to read minds per se, but she was very familiar with mind to mind communication, and with that she should be able to read one focused thought from someone who wasn't trying to keep her out, even if the other person didn't know how to communicate telepathically. A moment later, she turned to the others. "I have the coordinates."

"Good," Hayate said. "Shamal, Yuuno, start healing everyone here. Fate, cast a repair spell on my staff. In ten minutes, we're going after Beryl. Shamal, you, Yuuno, Aruf and Kamen will be staying here to help deal with the remaining youma. Everyone else will be coming with me to stop Beryl and reclaim the Jewel Seeds.

Hayate looked around as she rose to her feet and saw the determined look on the people around her. "It's time we finished this."

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A/N: JGSDF: Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the land based units of the Japan Self Defense Force, essentially the Japanese Army. The 1st Division is attached to the Eastern Army, which is based in Nerima, Tokyo.

Fukiage Garden is the section of the Tokyo Imperial Palace set aside as the residence of the Imperial family. The East Gardens contain (among other things) the administrative offices of several parts of the Japanese government.

There is a Japanese Imperial Guard, which is responsible for the security of the Emperor, his family, and their various properties (Roughly equivalent to the security duties of the US Secret Service). It is organized as a police unit, not a military one.

One thing that is often mentioned about heroes in real life is that a lot of them don't think of what they had done as being particularly heroic. Usagi wasn't trying to use herself as a decoy to lure the youma away from everyone at the arcade, she just helped her friend because she couldn't bring herself to not do so.


	17. Lunar Heart, Set Up

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or Sailor Moon

 

The White Devil of the Moon

By Bissek

Final Chapter

Lunar Heart, Set Up

 

Beryl smiled triumphantly as she strode through the halls of her palace. She had won. The power she could feel pulsing through the crystals she held in her hand should be sufficient to awaken Metallia. All she had to do was make her way to where her Mistress slept and present the crystals, and her victory would be complete. Within the hour, the Dark Kingdom would be restored to its full strength, and there would be nothing that Serenity could do to stop it.

 

She had lost all of her Generals, three slain and one subverted, to Serenity's actions, along with many of her youma, but it didn't matter. Soon, her fallen would all be avenged. Soon, Serenity would be destroyed by Metallia's unstoppable might, and the world would be Beryl's. And then, once Beryl had taken the position she so richly deserved as ruler of the world, she would claim Endymion as her consort. Perhaps she would leave Serenity alive long enough to see her take Endymion, to drive her victory home. The Princess's sister claimed that she was no longer interested in her old paramour, but Beryl still thought the assassin was lying about that. After all, if that was true, why had he not returned to her?

 

Beryl's musings on how to celebrate her imminent victory were interrupted by an alarm - the same alarm that had gone off when Precia had arrived. Someone had found her fortress a second time. Was this another accidental arrival, or had her enemies found her? Ordering a youma that she passed to take a team to identify and if necessary destroy the intruder, Beryl quickened her pace. She was not about to let her rival steal victory from her grasp. Not when she was this close.

 

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The group of Senshi and mages shivered as the wind whipped over the tundra surrounding the fortress they stood outside.

 

"Any idea where in this place the Jewel Seeds might be?" Hayate asked.

 

Sailor Mars conjured up a small ball of fire in her hand and looked into it. Then she pointed. "They're in that direction."

 

"Can you tell if my sister is in there somewhere?" Nanoha asked, her voice tinged with hope.

 

Mars looked into the fire again, and pointed in a slightly different direction. "She's here, somewhere in that direction. Unfortunately, I can't figure out the layout of this place with my divination."

 

"Using a search spell to map out the building would take too much time." Fate pointed out.

 

"We don't have to use a search spell." Nanoha pointed out. "Hino-san, take twenty steps to the left, then locate Miyuki and the Jewel Seeds again."

 

Mars was uncertain as to the point of her instructions, but she did as she was asked. Nanoha looked over the building as she did so, clearly working something out in her head.

 

"Okay, now I know exactly where both of them are. Now all we have to do is get to them."

 

"But without the floor plan, we could easily end up running around in circles trying to get to either of them, much less both." Mercury objected.

 

"That's why we'll be making our own path." Nanoha raised her staff. "Raising Heart?" She inquired.

 

"Yes, Master?" The Device responded.

 

"Excellion Mode."

 

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Beryl was approaching a intersection in the corridor when she was knocked to the ground by a massive shockwave. As she picked herself off the floor, pieces of debris fell off of her. Looking behind her, she saw that there was a gaping hole on either side of the corridor she had been walking down that hadn't been there moments before. Peering down one side of the hole, she saw that a roughly circular tunnel had been carved into her palace, running in a straight line from a point just behind where she had been at the time of the attack to some point outside the complex and delving even deeper into the palace in the other direction.

 

That rather conclusively answered the question of whether or not the intruders were hostile. And given that, there was only one possibility as to who it was. As the rubble settled in the suddenly much wider hallway, Beryl remembered the words that her captive had said during her first interrogation.

 

 _You want to know about my sister? Fine. She's got more experience than all of the Senshi_ combined _, and enough power to flatten a city. Some of her friends are even stronger. And you just did something guaranteed to make her mad. Sometime very, very soon, you will learn exactly why Vita dubbed my sister the White Devil, and if you're really lucky, your end will come as quickly as the guy you sent to break my father's arm did._

Beryl felt a cold icicle of fear creep down her spine as she realized exactly how dangerous her rival had become in the millennia since they had last met. Then she smiled as she realized that she had a trump card. Casting a spell to make her voice heard across the palace, she started giving out orders.

 

"Attention, my servants." She commanded. "We are under attack. I want the unit nearest the prison cells to take Serenity's sister to Metallia's chambers. All others are to repel the intruders."

 

With her hostage being delivered to her ultimate destination, Beryl resumed her journey. But since she didn't want to expose herself to attack, she took an alternate route, sticking to the side corridors and avoiding the blasted out path as much as possible, hurrying as if a devil was on her heels.

 

After all, one was.

 

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Nephrite groaned in pain as he slumped across the thin cot in his cell. He had long since lost track of time. The only things that had happened since he had been thrown into the cell were guards occasionally delivering food his Queen visiting so that she could torture him into confessing to his non-existent crimes and revealing things about Serenity and the Senshi that he didn't know.

 

The emotion he felt was rage. Rage directed at the girl who had so cleverly played him as a patsy. He had honestly thought that he had been using Serenity's sister to get a chance to kill the Moon Princess, but she had been deceiving him all along. She had lured him into a trap that could have killed him. When he escaped the trap and took her prisoner, she nearly assassinated his Queen and framed him as an accomplice. Or had that been her true plan all along?

 

Gritting his teeth, Nephrite started in on his sole remaining hobby: Coming up with revenge scenarios against Miyuki Takamachi. How should he kill her? Break her neck? No, that would be too quick. He wanted something lingering, something that would make her suffer as much as he had suffered from her treachery. Various forms of torture came up in his mind as he contemplated the best way to get his revenge.

 

His plotting was interrupted by a crashing sound and a bright pink light. Blinking rapidly to clear the spots from his eyes, Nephrite saw that a massive hole had been blasted through a corner of his cell. Shaking off the dust and debris that had been blown onto him by the blast, he struggled to his feet and looked at the hole. In one direction it went all the way outside. In the other it plunged deep into the heart of the palace.

 

Nephrite didn't know who had done this and he didn't care. All that mattered was that he could now escape his cell and track down the person responsible for him being locked in it in the first place. He would see Miyuki Takamachi broken and dead before him, and then his Queen would know that he was still her loyal servant.

 

Staggering out of his cell, Beryl's last General went on the hunt.

 

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Miyuki laid down on the cot, and wondered if today was the day she should try to escape.

 

The interrogations she had undergone had petered out after her captors apparently came to the reluctant conclusion that pain alone wasn't going to get her to talk (It helped that most of the questions they asked were things she honestly didn't know the answer to). That might change if they came up with some new way of questioning her, but for now she only encountered her jailors twice a day - once when they delivered food, and once when they retrieved the food tray and drained her of energy.

 

According to her watch, she had half an hour before the second visit of the day. Once that happened, she'd be too exhausted to even try to make a getaway until sometime the next day. Her injuries had recovered enough that she felt that she would be capable of fighting if she had to. The only real question was whether or not circumstances would make an escape attempt have any chance of success. She was fairly certain that she could break out of the cell whenever she wanted to, but she had no clue where in building the cell was located, or where in the world (And possibly even _what_ world) the building was. She was only going to get once chance to escape, so she had to make it count. If only there was some way to know what was going on with her captors. If she had some way of knowing when their guard was down by some factor, she would know when the proper moment to make her escape was.

 

As if in response to her thoughts, the walls started shaking, and she heard a series of muffled crashes. Something had exploded somewhere in the building. Several somethings.

 

If there was ever a time to try to escape, it was now. Her captors would be focused on whoever or whatever caused the explosion, and not on a prisoner that they barely spent any attention on even when things were going normally. Retrieving the metal rod she had hidden under the mattress, Miyuki walked to the prison door. Taking a backward stance, she held her weapon above her trailing foot and took a few deep breaths to focus her concentration. Then she took one rapid step forward, transferring her momentum into the door with one powerful thrust.

 

The rod smashed into the door, which shuddered from the impact. The last time she had used that technique in a fight, she had ripped the door clean off its hinges and knocked out an opponent on the other side. Either she was getting out of shape, or Beryl's building contractor had installed significantly stronger doors. But looking at the door, a spiders-web of cracks now radiated out from the place she had struck it. It might not have been knocked off its hinges, but it was clearly damaged. Miyuki returned to her stance and tried again.

 

Two strikes later, a large, jagged hole had been punched through the door. It wasn't what she had been hoping for, but the hole was just large enough for her to fit through. Backing to the other side of the room, Miyuki took a few more deep breaths and made a running dive through the hole. Climbing to her feet on the other side, she winced in pain as she realized that she had gotten a long scrape along one calf as she jumped through the opening. Her right shoulder also wasn't feeling that great after smashing the hole in the door in the first place.

 

Ripping a few more strips from her increasingly tattered dress, Miyuki bandaged her leg. Then, picking up her weapon in her left hand, she picked a direction and started walking. She didn't know where the exit was, but she wouldn't find it just standing in one place.

 

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The staff in Nanoha's hand started to change. The head of the staff disassembled itself and reformed. Within seconds, what had been a series of concentric circles was how a massive golden spearhead. Slapping what looked like a rifle magazine into the spear, she pointed it at the castle. As shell casings started getting ejected from the staff, a pink orb formed at the tip and started growing.

 

"Divine... BUSTER!!!" Nanoha shouted.

 

A massive wave of pink energy erupted from the spear and smashed into the outer wall of Beryl's palace. Then it kept going. After the dust and rubble settled, the Senshi looked at the fortress before them and saw that a ten meter wide hole had been blasted at least halfway through the palace.

 

"Alright," Hayate ordered, "We have two objectives here: Rescue Miyuki and retrieve the Jewel Seeds. The path that Nanoha just opened will take use to the latter while bringing us fairly close to the former. Nanoha will take Fate and the Senshi and go after the Jewel Seeds. The Wolkenritter will be going after Miyuki. I'll be out here, getting ready. Once you achieve your objectives, get out and I'll flatten the entire complex."

 

"No." Signum stated flatly. "We're not leaving you uncovered out here, mistress. Leaving you without protection in the city was a calculated risk that I agreed with because lives were at stake and we needed to be able to take out as many enemy units simultaneously as possible. Here that logic doesn't apply, and if anything you're even less capable of defending yourself than normal. If your staff was damaged enough to lose control of its matter storage capabilities, then it's probably in need of a complete rebuild even after Fate's repair spell. You might only be able to cast two or three spells before it breaks down. And that's assuming anyone attacking you is slow enough to be hit by one your spells before it can close in. I am not leaving you unprotected again."

 

The two stared at each other. As their gazes locked, the Senshi saw the look on Signum's face and realized that in her eyes this wasn't a matter of a junior officer defying her superior. It was a matter of a knight realizing that her duty and the orders from her liege could not be reconciled, and that she had decided that she would not go against what her duty required, no matter what.

 

Hayate looked away first. "Alright, Signum. You and Rein stay with me. Everyone, your orders stand. Move out!"

 

Eight people charged into the breach in the walls.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The youma surged into action. They had lost many of their number in the battle for Tokyo, and more still when a pink blast smashed through the palace, destroying everything in its wake, but their Queen had called, and they would answer.

 

Swarming from their quarters and workplaces, they rushed to the breach in the walls, determined to do their duty. They were confident that they would succeed. After all, the last time the Dark Kingdom had fought the Senshi inside a large structure like this, they had crushed them, and the only thing that had prevented their ultimate victory was Queen Serenity's use of the Ginzuisho.

 

They failed to realize that there were some severe differences between that battle and the one they were about to face. First, during the Silver Millennium, they had the advantage of surprise, which was now operating in the other direction. Second, the previous generation of Senshi lived in an era when battle was the exception, not the rule. The Moon Kingdom had not fought an actual war in years when the Dark Kingdom attacked. This generation of Senshi had been facing battle regularly for nearly two years, and had spent several months getting their skills refined by the finest magical combat instructor alive. And most importantly, when the Moon Kingdom fell, the palace was full of civilians that the Senshi had to both protect and avoid harming themselves, seriously constraining their tactics and the level of power they could use. There was only one person in the entire palace that the attackers did not see as a valid target, so they had a much freer hand this time around.

 

Massive waves of lightning crackled through the corridor. Those that made it past the lightning found themselves frozen solid, then smashed by metal orbs that were launched by one of the Senshi's allies. Those who came in from behind the attackers as they made their relentless advance were blasted by balls of pink or yellow light, sliced to pieces with a crystal sword, or attacked by an enormous wolf. Even after two of the attackers broke off and headed down a side corridor for some reason, all that did was slow the rate of their advance slightly. The invaders pressed on.

 

A wall of fire searing down the tunnel broke the spirit of the defenders. The remaining youma stared in horror at a twin-ponytailed figure holding a spear walking through the flames, and they broke and ran.

 

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Nephrite had suspected that the person who had released him from his cell hadn't intended to do so when he saw exactly how much destruction had been caused in the process. Less than a minute after leaving the cell, his suspicions were confirmed.

 

The palace was under attack. Youma were streaming out of the corridors and charging down the tunnel to attack the intruders who had just made their own path into the heart of Beryl's domain. Nephrite ducked down an unused side corridor to get out of their way. If the enemy could do that much damage with their opening shot, he didn't want to be in the obvious line of fire if they decided to do that again.

 

This was an opportunity. If he could defeat the attackers, it would conclusively prove to his Queen that he was still her loyal servant. All he had to do was get into a position where he could ambush them, which wouldn't be hard, given that he knew the layout of the palace and could tell that the invaders would be sticking to the path that they had created for themselves.

 

Making his way through the back hallways, Nephrite considered the best place to launch his ambush. It had to be someplace where he would be concealed from the attackers long enough to land a devastating opening blow, but also had to be somewhere he could be seen to defeat them. He could only redeem himself in Beryl's eyes if he was seen destroying her true enemies.

 

Nephrite's planning was interrupted by a group of youma making their own way to the battlefield. One of them immediately pointed at him.

 

"The traitor has escaped! He must be in league with them. Seize him!"

 

Before he could protest his innocence, the youma were charging him, and Nephrite was forced to defend himself.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Miyuki crept through the hallways of the palace. The sounds of explosions had faded, to be replaced by the more random sounds of battle. Her former captor was under attack. This was an opportunity. If she could find where the attackers were, she should be able to trace their invasion route and find a way out. If she was lucky, she might even be able to convince the people attacking the Dark Kingdom to give her a lift back to somewhere she could get home from.

 

All she had to do was follow the sounds of fighting, and she'd be able to escape. So long as she managed to get past the actual fight in one piece once she found it, her plan had a good chance of success. Hearing from calls of outrage from the direction of her former cell, Miyuki picked up her pace in hopes of finding the way out before the youma who just realized that she had broken out caught up with her.

 

She should have increased her pace further. The youma caught up with her before she could find whoever was attacking the complex. Glancing behind her, she saw that one of them was significantly ahead of the others. Taking advantage of that, she continued running until the lead youma had almost caught up with her, then stopped and spun around. Swinging her weapon with all the momentum of her spin, she smashed the metal rod into the side of its knee.

 

The youma crumpled as its knee shattered. As it fell, Miyuki kicked out, knocking the youma back into the path of its colleagues. While the other youma stumbled over the fallen form of their colleague, Miyuki broke into a full run. That wouldn't slow them down for long.

 

There was a fight going on somewhere nearby. She could hear it. Trying to ignore the pain in her injured leg as best she could, Miyuki ran as fast as she could towards the sound of the commotion.

 

Reaching the sound of the commotion, Miyuki saw a man taking apart a group of youma with ease. As he finished off the last one, he turned to see if the newcomer was another opponent. She recognized him the moment she saw his face.

 

" _You!_ " Miyuki and Nephrite shouted in unison.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

While most of the youma concentrated on trying to repulse the enemies that had actually entered the palace, some of them decided to go after the group that was standing outside. After all, there were only three of them, one of whom was so small that any of them could take her out of the fight by stepping on her. And if they were truly dangerous, why weren't they participating in the main attack?

 

Signum readied Laevatein as the youma approached. She would prove her enemy's assumption to be very, very wrong.

 

"Unison In!" She commanded. Rein floated over to her and synchronized with her. With the two of them bound together, they had more than enough power to destroy any adversary long before they could get close enough to threaten Hayate.

 

"Schlangenform!" She called out. A spent cartridge was ejected from her Device as it changed from a sword to a bladed whip and burst into flame. Slashing with her weapon, she weaved a wall of blades and flames in front of her. Every youma that attempted to approach her was quickly reduced to ash.

 

In a matter of minutes, all of the youma that had the courage to face Signum had fallen. None of them had gotten close enough to threaten her Mistress. As the ashes of her fallen opponents settled, Signum looked out at the Dark Kingdom's main base, watching for signs that the enemy was regrouping for another assault. What she saw coming out of the palace was something she didn't expect.

 

A group of youma was running out of the breach in the outer wall, but not to attack. Instead, they were chasing after a figure who was fleeing the base. Signum's eyes widened in shock as she recognized who it was, and then flew into action. Switching Laevatein back into sword form for higher precision, she cut her way through the youma seeking to harm the sister that she had thought to be dead for years.

 

"Thanks for the save," Reinforce Eins said. "I'm not sure I could have kept away from them much longer."

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nanoha called the group to a stop.

 

"Okay, we're at the point that the Jewel Seeds were when I breached the outer defenses. Does anyone see them around here?" She asked.

 

A quick survey of their surrounds quickly revealed that the missing Lost Logia were not in the immediate vicinity. Calling up another ball of fire, Sailor Mars tried to divine their location once again.

 

"We're getting close. They're now somewhere in that direction." She reported, pointing obliquely down a side corridor.

 

Fate walked towards the wall of the corridor, shifting her scythe into Zamber mode as she approached it. Driving her sword into the wall, she carved an arch into it before kicking the wall down.

 

"Let's move." She said. The group headed through the new opening, smashing their way down the new course that Mars had provided.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The last of the DD Girls approached the two intruders. Her sisters had all been slain when a beam of pink light had smashed through their quarters. She had survived only because she had been standing on the other side of the room when the blast hit.

 

Her plan was working perfectly. Her illusion spell had them thinking that she was someone they trusted, who they had rushed to rescue from the evil youma. It wouldn't take much effort to get closer to her 'friends', at which point she would be able to take both of them down at once.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Signum stared at the woman she believed to have died seven years before. How was Reinforce here? It wasn't possible. But how could the enemy even know of her? The only image the Wolkenritter kept of her was kept in her memorial shrine back at the base, and if the Dark Kingdom knew where that was, they would have attacked it long ago instead of launching an all-out assault on the entire city.

 

"Is it really you, Reinforce?" Hayate asked.

 

"Of course. Who else could I be?" The seemingly resurrected Wolkenritter said. "I'm glad to be back with you two again."

 

Inside of Signum, Reinforce Zwei called out a warning.

 

 _Signum! That isn't Eins!_ She said silently. _She mentioned the_ two _of us. The real Eins would know that you're currently Unisoned just by looking at you, and thus would know that there are_ three _people here._

Signum's eyes narrowed as she looked at the approaching figure. Rein had a point. Entering Unison mode changed the hair color of the host, which would be immediately obvious to anyone who knew the Unisoned mage personally.The person claiming to be Reinforce hadn't mentioned the color change or acknowledged the existence of Rein, showing that she didn't notice the color change or understand its implications, something which the core program of the Book of Night Sky would not do with one of her guardians.

Now that she was watching the false Reinforce more closely, she saw that her body language was that of someone setting up for a subtle attack. Seeing how close she was to Hayate, Signum sprung into action. Flying to her mistress, Signum knocked her out of the way while bringing her blade up to counter the attack.

 

The wound that she inflicted in the imposter with her defensive strike was minor, but it broke whatever spell was enabling it to wear Reinforce's appearance. The only thing the creature's true form had in common with Reinforce was that they were both female. Everything else was different, starting with the fact that Reinforce didn't have green skin.

 

"How did you see through my spell?" The youma demanded as it launched another attack.

 

"You should have checked your counting." Signum snapped as she parried the attack with ease.

 

The youma was stronger than the ones that she had been fighting all day, Signum would give it that much credit. But it didn't do it any good. She had centuries of experience in battle, and all of her attention was focused on destroying the creature who dared to defile the memory of her fallen kinswoman. Within seconds, it had been reduced to ashes on the snow like its colleagues had.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miyuki looked down the hall at the man who had lied to her, broken her heart, tried to murder her sister, and kidnapped her with absolute loathing. Nephrite looked back at her with an expression of equal hatred.

 

"I've been looking forward to this for a long time, girl," Nephrite said softly, but with a disturbing intensity.

 

"You lured me into an ambush with the intent of forcing me to take you or some of your sister's accursed Senshi into Beryl's presence," He accused. "You tried to murder my Queen. And you set it up so that if it failed, I would be branded as a traitor to the Dark Kingdom. In return for your perfidy, I am going to take pleasure in breaking you."

 

As Nephrite stalked towards her, Miyuki noted that he was giving her credit for a far more sophisticated plan than had actually existed. All they had really planned was to capture and interrogate a Dark General, or, failing that, eliminate him. Beryl had just been a target of opportunity. But while she had no intention of framing the man as a willing accomplice in the plan, she didn't see any reason to complain about what had happened to him. And if what he believed made him angry, then maybe he'd make a mistake and she'd be able to beat him within an inch of his life before he could blast her with his magic.

 

"Your people ruined my brother's wedding," She snapped back, "They nearly killed my mother, broke my father's arm, and caused my sister to end up in the hospital. If you think you're getting any sympathy from me, you're in for a long wait."

 

Miyuki followed that up by smashing him in the jaw with the metal rod. Spitting out teeth, her enraged ex-boyfriend attacked her. Rolling out of the way of the blast, Miyuki winced as she climbed to her feet. All the exertion was putting a lot of strain on her injured leg, and it wasn't doing any of her half-healed wounds any favors, either.

 

In the distance, Miyuki could hear the youma she had encountered earlier catching up to them. With her injuries, her mobility was seriously impaired, and she knew from experience that the only way to stand a chance in a fight against youma was to keep moving. She couldn't fight at her best, and if she tried to run, Nephrite would shoot her in the back. This was going to be ugly.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Vita flew through the hallways of Beryl's base, Zafira running at her heels. The youma trying to reach the main battle that they occasionally ran into attempted to stop them, but ultimately failed to do more than slow them down a bit.

 

Vita had failed Nanoha twice in the past year, and she was not going to let her friend down. She the Knight of the Hammer, wielder of Graf Eisen, the Iron Count, and there was nothing she could not break. There was nothing she _would_ not break, if it came between her and her mission. The only reason she wasn't smashing through the walls to get to the last reported location of Nanoha's sister was because she might accidentally bury her in the rubble. She was definitely planning on using that option to create the fastest way out once Miyuki was found.

 

As the two finished off another group of youma, they heard something in the distance.

 

"What's that?" Vita wondered.

 

"It sounds like a fight." Zafira noted.

 

"But it's not coming from the direction the others are in. Who else could the enemy be fighting?" Vita paused, and then the answer came to her. "It must be Miyuki. Let's go!"

 

They hurried towards the sound of the battle, and Vita's suspicions were confirmed. Miyuki was locked in battle with a group of youma and the Dark General who had kidnapped her in the first place. The young woman was doing her best to fend them off with a metal rod, but she was highly battered and was rapidly getting cornered. It looked like the only reason she hadn't already fallen was because the youma were attacking Miyuki and Nephrite indiscriminately, distracting enough of the fighters to keep her from being totally overwhelmed.

 

As they arrived at the scene of the fight, Nephrite blasted Miyuki in the shoulder, knocking her backwards and forcing her to drop her weapon. Wasting no time, the two Wolkenritter leaped into the fray. Screaming in rage, Vita charged at Nephrite. Zafira growled as he leapt at one of the youma closest to Miyuki.

 

Vita's battle cry was enough to warn Nephrite that another combatant had arrived. Her opening blow, which should have crushed half his rib cage, only staggered him instead. Spinning her hammer around, she tried for an upward swing that would take him under the chin and knock him through the ceiling, but he stepped back and countered with a blast of magic that burned a hole through her barrier jacket and seared the flesh underneath. Gritting her teeth from the pain, Vita slammed Graf Eisen into his arm, and felt bones snap under the blow.

 

The two fought back and forth, trading blows as they tried to get an opening for a finishing strike. Suddenly, Nephrite's guard dropped as he cried out in pain from a blow that Vita had not struck. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Vita smashed her hammer into the side of the Dark General's head. As he dropped to the ground, Vita saw a foot buried in the man's crotch. While he had been distracted with his duel against Vita, Miyuki had apparently snuck up behind him and landed one last blow against her betrayer.

 

As Vita shook the pulpy mess that had once been Nephrite off her hammer, she looked Miyuki over. The young woman was not in good shape. Her left arm was hanging limply from her side, and the way her right arm moved implied that it was injured as well. Blood-stained rags were tied around one leg. It was clear that she wasn't up to making a run for the exit. Another way of getting her out would be needed.

 

"Thanks for the assist." Vita said.

 

"I owed him that," Miyuki replied, looking at Nephrite's remains with contempt. "And I should be thanking you. If you hadn't shown up I wouldn't have made it out of that fight. I take it that Nanoha sent you?"

 

"She sent me to get you out of here while she and the others took care of another part of the mission." Vita agreed, "Once we're all clear, Hayate's going to flatten the entire place. Come on, let's get you out of here. Shamal should be able to patch you up."

 

Miyuki was only too glad to get away from the Dark Kingdom. Once Zafira finished off the last of his opponents, Vita helped Miyuki get on his back, and he lashed her in place with a modified Steel Yoke.

 

Vita turned in the direction of the passage out that Nanoha had created earlier and started smashing through the walls in a direct line between the three of them and the route outside. Once they made it out of the palace, their mission would be complete.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Gasping for breath, Beryl hurriedly sealed the door to Metallia's lair. The White Devil was coming, and her forces wouldn't be able to slow her down much longer. Her only hope for survival, much less victory, lay in reviving Metallia before the Senshi reached her.

 

Rushing to her quiescent mistress, Beryl placed the six crystals before her.

 

"Hear me, O Metallia," She intoned, wincing as she heard something smash into the door. "I bring you these crystals an a offering. May the energy they contain restore you and allow you to crush your enemies with your infinite might!"

 

Slowly, the light started to fade from the crystals. As Metallia fed, the crashing sounds continued. Turning, she saw that the magically sealed portal was holding. So long as the spell remained active, the door would be fused to the frame, incapable of opening. That would hopefully keep the Senshi out long enough to...

 

An explosion erupted, and a section of the wall ten meters away from the door blew apart. Turning her attention to the hole, she saw several of the Senshi come running in. Knowing that she had to buy time for Metallia to finish feeding and awaken, she confronted her attackers.

 

While guarding against a barrage of lightning from Sailor Jupiter, she blasted the ceiling above the Senshi, hoping to bury them and block the entrance of any further enemies. The rubble did block the hole, but the three Senshi who had already made it in were able to get clear.

 

As Sailors Mars and Jupiter pressed the attack against her, Sailor Mercury encased the floor of half the room in a massive sheet of ice. Beryl saw their plan. With only her side of the room covered in ice, they could maneuver freely while she couldn't. Beryl would be forced to choose between trying to move and running the risk of losing her footing and leaving herself vulnerable, or staying in one place and allowing herself to be outflanked. She wasn't about to let that happen.

 

Sending a wave of force, she knocked the Senshi back. Taking advantage of the brief pause in the combat, she hastily used a minor fire spell to melt the ice around her. She got the ice cleared away just in time, as the Senshi quickly recovered and sent a combined attack that could have been very painful had she not been able to dodge it. Firing back at her enemies, she scattered them, leaving them unable to support each other.

 

As she prepared to blast Mercury for the crime of killing one of her Generals, pain lanced through her belly. Looking down, she saw that something had sliced her belly open. Glancing to the side, she saw Sailor Venus catching her bloodied compact.

 

It had been a trick. While she had been focused on repelling the Senshi that had entered through the wall, Venus had bypassed the spell sealing the door by literally cutting the doorframe out of the wall. Then she had taken advantage of the fact that Beryl had made the mistake of only guarding herself against magical attacks (The only things that her initial attackers had been using) and struck at her physically.

 

As Beryl tried to hold her wound together, the other Senshi struck. Lightning crackled over her body, making her cringe in pain. A wave of cold hit her arm, freezing it solid. A burst of flame seared into her, cauterizing the bleeding as it incinerated her insides.

 

At that moment, Beryl realized that she was doomed. Her heart was still beating, but for all practical intents and purposes she was already dead. Her only hope at anything approaching victory was to ensure that the Senshi lost as well. And the only way to do that was to ensure that Metallia awoke. Beryl stopped trying to attack her enemies and focused the last of her strength on creating a barrier to prevent them from getting any closer to her or her mistress.

 

Spells smashed against the shield as the Senshi tried to penetrate it. Beryl held firm, determined that she would live long enough to ensure that she was avenged. Her eyes narrowed as she saw her nemesis join the effort.

 

Strangely, the Moon Princess did not attack the barrier. She stared at it while clutching the massive spear in her hands. A small object flew from the spear, and then she handed the spear to Jupiter and spoke briefly to her. Jupiter took the weapon from her Princess and threw it at the barrier.

 

The spear embedded itself in the shield, piercing it but not going through to reach its creator. Beryl smirked. Whatever Serenity had hoped to accomplish with that maneuver, it had failed.

 

"Shoot."

 

The flat tone of Serenity's voice didn't sound like a mild curse. It sounded more like a command. Beryl watched with horror as the spearhead split down the middle and separated into two pieces joined by a crimson orb. Then a flash of pink light from the orb sent her flying.

 

The barrier fell as Beryl crashed into the ground. It was over. She didn't think that she had the strength left to rise, much less slow her enemies down any longer. But as the light faded from her eyes, she saw that the light had also faded from the crystals she had presented to Metallia.

 

Beryl smiled as she died. The Senshi might have struck her down, but she had still won.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The palace shook as Metallia awoke. The Senshi and their allies fled through the broken walls and ruined hallways in order to escape. They had failed to stop Beryl in time, and now their best chance was to get out of the building so their heavy hitter could bombard the entire area and hopefully take Metallia down.

 

Exiting the palace, they hurried to where Hayate was waiting with the Vita and a unisoned Signum. Nanoha took a quick look at the group and realized that there were people missing.

 

"Where's Zafira? Did you get Miyuki out okay?" She demanded.

 

"Your sister's safe." Vita assured her. "Zafira transported back to Tokyo so Shamal could treat her injuries." Before Nanoha could start demanding details of how badly hurt her sister was, Vita asked a question of her own. "What's going on in there?"

 

"We were too late. We took Beryl out, but she was able to feed the Jewel Seeds to Metallia first. It's starting to wake up."

 

"Then we'd better deal with it now. Rein!" Hayate called out. The miniature girl flew out of Signum and into Hayate, whose coloring shifted as she pointind her staff at the palace while raising her other hand above her head. Black light shone along its length as she charged one of her most dangerous spells. "In an ancient land, sink to the darkness," She intoned. "Diablolic Emission!"

 

A sphere of black light formed over the palace. The sphere collapsed in on itself, then exploded in a rapidly expanding eruption of energy. The blast caused the damaged building to completely collapse. But after a few seconds, the energy started flowing backwards, as if it was being drawn into something. Within moments, all of the power was drawn to a specific point in the rubble. A point that was moving as if something underneath it was stirring.

 

Hayate looked at the evidence that something had just tanked her second most powerful spell with concern. Turning to her friends, she snapped out orders. "Triple Breaker. Now. Before that thing digs itself out."

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The three Aces of the TSAB brought their devices to bear. The air hummed with power as cartridges were drained to power up the most powerful spell that each of them knew. In the distance, a form was rising from the ruins of Beryl's palace. All three of them cast their spells at it.

 

"Full Power!" Nanoha called out. "Starlight.."

 

"Lightning Flash!" Fate shouted. "Zamber Plasma..."

 

"Resound, horn of judgment!" Hayate incanted. "Ragnarok..."

 

" **BREAKER!** " The three called out as one, releasing their spells.

 

Pink, yellow and blue bursts of light streamed towards the rising shape. All three struck it head on. All three failed to even phase it. Instead it started growing. When the spells ended, the three found themselves facing an enemy that now appeared to be stronger than it was before they had attacked it.

 

"It just blocked a Triple Breaker," Hayate gasped as their staffs vented steam. "No, it didn't block it, it _ate_ it."

 

"No wonder Queen Serenity was only able to seal it, not destroy it," Sailor Mercury said, looking at her computer, which abruptly lost power. "It feeds on any energy it encounters. Any attack thrown at it will only make it stronger." She paused. "Is anyone starting to feel a little light-headed?"

 

"Yeah, I am," Agreed Jupiter, then she paled, "Oh no, you don't think that..."

 

"It's starting to drain us," Venus said, her face grim, "And when it's finished, it will move on to find someplace with more people to feed on. And the longer it does so, the harder it will be to stop. If we don't destroy or seal it now, Metallia will soon be unstoppable."

 

A dread silence spread over the group. There was only one thing with a proven ability to affect Metallia. Unfortunately, using the Ginzuisho brought with it the risk of killing the person wielding it. But with the lives of everyone in the world at stake, what choice did they have?

 

Nanoha took a slow breath. "I'm going to need every cartridge we have left." She announced.

 

Hayate, Signum and Vita somberly removed their remaining cartridges from their Devices and handed them over without a word. They knew that their friend had just volunteered for a suicide mission, and they couldn't bring themselves to openly admit it by saying goodbye. Fate was less reticent.

 

"Nanoha, you can't do this!" She protested.

 

"What other options do we have, Fate?"

 

"There has to be _something_ we can try! Please Nanoha, don't..."

 

Fate's objection was cut off by Nanoha forcefully pressing her lips against her own. Fate instinctively raised her arms to embrace Nanoha, hoping that she could convey without words how much the other girl meant to her and how much she needed her. Seconds later, the kiss was deepening, and Fate was starting to believe that Nanoha might be convinced to not go flying to her death. Then her limbs were suddenly trapped in a Ring Bind.

 

As Nanoha took Bardiche away from her, Fate realized that the kiss was just a way to get her to drop her guard. She was the only person here who could fly fast enough to prevent Nanoha from making her suicide run, so Nanoha had bound her to keep her from doing so.

 

"Don't do this, Nanoha. _Please!_ " She pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

 

"I'm sorry, Fate," Nanoha sighed as she popped the cylinder on Bardiche and removed the cartridges. "I wish there was some other way. But don't have time to look for one. Please forgive me." Nanoha placed Bardiche back in Fate's hand, and then traced her face in one hand. "I love you." She whispered, before taking to the sky.

 

Fate struggled against the bonds, desperate to break free in time to catch up with Nanoha. But it was no use, by the time she got loose, Nanoha was too far away to catch before she started casting. She fell to her knees, weeping over the loss dearest friend.

 

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Nanoha flew towards the now massive form of Metallia, blinking back tears as she did so. She had once chance at this, and if her plan didn't work, she would never see her friends again. She didn't want to do this, but as she told Fate, there wasn't any other choice. Seven billion lives were counting on her, and if Metallia was capable of travelling to other systems, the entire dimension could be at risk.

 

The sensation of draining increased as she closed in on Metallia. Biting her lip to ensure that she could maintain her focus despite the light-headedness that was starting to creep in, she deliberately flew into the creature's open mouth and down its throat. The draining sensation weakened as she went deeper into its body. That validated the wild guess that was at the center of her plan. Metallia could drain anything that it encountered, but it could drain something inside it, at least not instinctively. That would be its undoing.

 

Unsealing the Ginzuisho from inside Raising Heart, she had the spearhead open, and then placed the crystal flower between the two halves, right against the gem. Reloading every magazine with the cartridges she had taken from the others, she instructed her Device to channel its spells through the Lost Logia. Then she aimed the spear upwards, to the roof of Metallia's mouth and into where the brain would be on a human.

 

Cartridges were ejected at a rapid pace as the spell drew power. Nanoha ejected the magazine and loaded another as the spell continued to grow. With the Ginzuisho augmenting Raising Heart's power, the energy collection process wasn't just absorbing the ambient energy left behind from any spells cast in the area, it was also drawing in all the power that Metallia had absorbed. Including the power of seven Lost Logia and the greatest spells of the three strongest mages the TSAB had.

 

The power held in her staff peaked. Nanoha released it in one massive blast, calling out the name that Raising Heart displayed as a suggestion for what to call a spell that took her Starlight Breaker to an entirely new level.

 

"Moonlight **BREAKER!** "

 

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Fate weakly raised her head. She knew deep inside that she needed to witness her beloved Nanoha's sacrifice. She needed to see her friend die to save the world of her birth. Even if it broke her heart to do so.

 

So she saw Nanoha fly straight down the creature's throat. She waited as the creature just stood there. She stopped breathing as she prayed for a sign that the monster hadn't just _eaten_ her and that Nanoha's sacrifice hadn't just been completely in vain. And then a column of light, the color oscillating between pink and a silvery white, erupted from Metallia. Everyone shielded their eyes from the flashing light, and when they looked again, the ruler of the Dark Kingdom collapsed to the ground, dissolving as it fell. Standing in the air where it had been was a sole figure, roughly the size of a human being.

 

With a cry of delight Fate launched herself into the air and flew into Nanoha's arms. They laughed as they spun through the air, delighting in the fact that they had survived and that they would hopefully have many more years to spend together.

 

As the two touched ground, the Senshi looked at the girl they considered their Princess and bowed. Fate turned to Nanoha and gasped with surprise when she realized that her appearance had changed considerably from using the Ginzuisho.

 

The ankle-length skirt of her Barrier Jacket now only reached to mid-thigh. The top had also changed, becoming practically skin-tight. Nanoha's ponytails had lengthened to reach the back of her knees, and her hair color had changed to a platinum blonde. A coronet marked with a crescent moon rested on her brow. Even Raising Heart had changed. The length of the staff was the same, but instead of a spearhead, the top of the Device now looked more like the headpiece of a royal scepter.

 

Fate was wondering what had caused such a change when Nanoha said three words that made it clear that this was a problem that could wait for another time.

 

"Let's go home."

 

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Saeko Mizuno slumped into her chair in exhaustion. It had been a very long shift at the hospital, but at long last all of the casualties from the monster attack had been seen to and she had been able to go home.

 

She didn't even want to know what the total casualties for the battle were. She knew that they would be far too high. Juuban General had been able to keep up with the seemingly endless number of wounded people in need of help, if just barely. Saeko didn't think that they would have been able to do it without the assistance of Hotaru Tomoe.

 

The girl had literally worked herself to the point of collapse, and between the people she had healed herself and the ones that were able to be treated in time because she had freed up people and medical supplies that wouldn't be needed on the people she had healed, she had saved at least a hundred lives. The young girl (Who had been delighted to see her talents appreciated by someone other than other magical girls) was now the hospital's darling, and once her abilities and interest in seeking a medical career got out, every medical school and hospital in the country would be head-hunting her.

 

However, even with the knowledge that she had done a lot of good that day, one worry weighed on Saeko's mind. Her daughter hadn't made it home yet. Not only was Ami not home, but people had stopped reporting having seen Sailor Mercury, or any of the other Senshi for that matter, some time ago. Had something happened to her? Had she been killed, her body lying unnoticed with no witnesses surviving to tell the tale? This just wasn't right. Her daughter hadn't even made it into high school yet, she should be worrying about Ami's grades and the acceptability of her boyfriends, not whether or not the girl had survived a battle that she had deliberately gone into knowing she could be killed.

 

The door to the apartment opened, and Saeko's eyes widened in delight as she saw her daughter enter. Ami was obviously weary, and seriously in need of a shower, but she didn't appear to be notably injured. Saeko pried herself out of the chair and ran to embrace her only child.

 

"Ami!" She gasped, "I was so worried."

 

"It's alright, mom." Ami said, "It's over now."

 

"This battle, maybe, but what about the next one, or the one after that? I'm not sure I can go on knowing that you could get yourself killed any day."

 

"No, mother, it meant _it's over_. We were able to track the youma back to their main base and destroy it. The war is _over_. All of it."

 

Saeko held her daughter tighter, tears of joy in her eyes. The nightmare was over. Her child was safe.

 

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Due to its location near the local train station and quality service, the Midori-ya cafe had a sizable amount of regular custom. After the owners were associated with one of the first confirmed magical girls, the unexpected publicity had increased that. But on this day, none of their regulars were coming in. A sign had been placed on the door reading 'Closed For Private Party'.

 

Inside the cafe, Hayate Yagami raised her glass. "To a closed case!" She called out.

 

Everyone else in the cafe echoed the toast. "A closed case!"

 

Everyone drank, and the victory celebration began. The Dark Kingdom had been crushed. Beryl and all of her generals were dead, Metallia had been destroyed, and all of the youma running around Tokyo had been dealt with. Everything was over except for the paperwork.

 

As the victorious mages celebrated, Miyuki helped her parents and brother bring out a wide variety of pastries. Her wounded arm was in a sling, and would be a long time in recovering. Her wounded heart might take longer to heal, but the satisfaction she had gotten from what had happened to the man who had used her was a good start.

 

Luna was sitting on top of one of the tables, licking the filling out of a cream puff that her Princess had thoughtfully broken open for her. No, not her Princess. Her Queen. With her successful usage of the Ginzuisho to bring about a decisive victory over the Dark Kingdom, Nanoha had proven herself worthy of claiming her throne. Now Luna could begin guiding her on the process of restoring her Kingdom to its former glory.

 

The party went on for over an hour before Nanoha rapped her fork against a glass. Her appearance had returned to normal after she had taken Raising Heart out of what she had tentatively dubbed 'Lunar Excellion' mode, which had arisen from her using her Device and the Ginzuisho in concert. The two items were now apparently permanently bound together, with no perceptible differences from the Device's normal state save for the addition of the new mode.

 

The noise of the party died down as Nanoha signaled that she wanted their attention. "Thank you, everyone." She began, "Because of all your hard work, a wanted criminal who had been murdering sick people in hospital beds has been brought to justice," Luna noticed the sad looks on the faces of the two daughters of the criminal in question, "A youma attack threatening the lives of the thirteen million people living in Tokyo was thwarted, and two separate dimensional threats that could have potentially killed everything on this planet were stopped. Good work." There was a round of applause.

 

"Some of the Senshi may recall an unfortunate incident early on in our association," Nanoha continued, as Mars, Jupiter and Kamen looked away guiltily, "I'm pleased to announce that they have fulfilled the conditions of our agreement on how best to make amends for these actions. I now have one statement to make to all of the Senshi as your Princess," Luna held her breath in anticipation. This was the moment that the Moon Kingdom would be born again. She wasn't expecting what her monarch said next.

 

"I hereby release all of you from my service."

 

Luna's jaw dropped. She couldn't have heard that right. The next Queen of the Moon Kingdom hadn't just _fired her Senshi_. It was absolutely unthinkable. How could she possibly rebuild her Kingdom without her most loyal retainers at her side?

 

"Y-Your Majesty!" The Moon Cat protested. "You can't possibly dismiss your Senshi!"

 

"Why not?" Nanoha countered. "Their oaths of fealty were sworn in a previous life, not this one. The Wolkenritter are as much family to Hayate as they are retainers, and would stand by her side even if she wasn't their rightful master for that reason. The Senshi aren't like that to me. If any of them choose to join me in my work, they're free to tell me, but I can't in good conscience demand their obedience because of vows they swore to a woman long dead in a different lifetime. Especially now that they've finally fulfilled the last obligations remaining from that lifetime." Luna thought that the Senshi would immediately take the opportunity given to them to offer their fealty to their new ruler in their current lifetime, but instead they all starting thinking, as if they were contemplating some life outside of their now former Queen's service. Nanoha's next comment put the cat in further distress, "Besides, I don't really need any knights in my line of work."

 

"B-But Your Majesty! How can you hope to rebuild your Kingdom without your retainers?" A creeping suspicion came upon Luna: She couldn't. And the reason she didn't want any retainers was because she had no interest in even trying.

 

"What Kingdom?" Nanoha asked pointedly. "Can anyone here name someone not present who has even _heard_ of the Moon Kingdom who didn't learn of it from someone in this room?" The only person to speak up was Yuuno, who mentioned a couple of researchers in extinct civilizations who had published a couple of papers that he had read while preparing to brief his superiors on the potential threat that Metallia posed.

 

Luna couldn't believe it. Her Queen had just denied the existence of her realm! This couldn't be happening.

 

"Don't you understand who you _are_ , Your Majesty?"

 

"Yes. I know exactly who I am Luna. I am Nanoha Takamachi, tactics instructor for the Time Space Administration Bureau. The fact that in a previous life I was a princess who was woefully unqualified to assume her mother's throne is irrelevant. Who I _am_ is far more important than who I _was_."

 

In that moment, Luna knew that she had failed. Her Queen had disavowed her birthright. Her dreams of restoring the Moon Kingdom all collapsed. Luna hopped off the table and slinked away with her tail between her legs.

 

"So what happens now?" Venus asked.

 

"Now you girls think hard about whether or not you want a career as a professional mage." Hayate said. "If you do, leave a message at our base in Juuban. I'll be there for another week or so, tying up various loose ends before we pack up and return to Mid-Childa.

 

"And while I'm doing that, Nanoha, Aruf and Fate will be returning to the vacation they are supposed to be on." She continued rather pointedly. "I don't care whether they spend the time with Nanoha's parents, hanging out with Arika and Suzuka, or just lounging on a beach somewhere. All that matters is that what they are doing is not something that can be considered work, since Nanoha is _supposed_ to be resting after having overworked herself into a long stay in the hospital. Is that clear?"

 

That last question was aimed directly at a certain workaholic, who nodded meekly.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Minako Aino sat on her bed, wondering what decision she should make with her life. For the first time in nearly two years, she had the option of not being a Senshi. And that option was very, very tempting to her.

 

Hunting the nights, taking down youma (And any petty criminals she happened to come across) had been a major part of her life for a long time. But did she really want it to be her entire life? Nanoha had pointed out that that _she_ had technically never sworn any oaths to the Moon Kingdom, she had simply been trying to fulfill the oaths sworn in her previous life. And no matter how valid an oath sworn in one life was in a later one, she had been explicitly released from those oaths.

 

Her thoughts turned back to Danburite, one of the senior servants of the Dark Generals, who she had fought back when she had first started out as Sailor V. When he died, he told her that she would always place her duty before her own needs, and because of that, she would never know true happiness. But did she have a duty anymore? Was she finally free?

 

As she thought over it, an answer came to her. No, she did not have any duty remaining to Queen Serenity's shade. She had succeeded in protecting the Princess from the assassin sent by the Dark Kingdom. She had personally defeated one of the Beryl's Dark Generals, and more of her youma than she could remember. She had helped to prevent the Dark Kingdom from destroying the Earth a second time. She had done her part. Now it was time for her to live for herself for a change.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Minako Aino asked the Takamachis to send an audition tape to Fiasse Crystela. On the strength of that tape, she was accepted into the Crystela Music Academy and starting studying to be a professional singer.

 

Ami Mizuno decided to go to Mid-Childa to study magic, with the understanding that she would pay for her tuition by serving a tour of duty in the TSAB (In a non-combat role). When asked if the opportunity to spend time with a certain archeologist/librarian influenced her decision, she turned bright red and changed the subject.

 

Makoto Kino got a summer job at the Midori-ya learning the finer points of professional baking. She would eventually move to Unimari to be able to continue that job year-round and take advantage of the city's considerably lower cost of living compared to Tokyo.

 

Rei Hino returned to her family shrine, where she applied her training in divination magic to her duties as a shrine maiden.

 

Mamoru Chiba continued to dwell over how Serenity had rejected him until the day that Rei got sick of his moping and told him to try living his own life instead of Endymion's for a change. They eventually resumed dating, though awkwardness over what had derailed their previous attempt at a relationship lingered.

 

Hotaru Tomoe was taken in the by Takamachis - the only family in Japan to have ever knowingly raised a magical girl. Word got around in Japan about her healing talents and she was soon sought out by people hoping to provide her with a scholarship in exchange for her coming to work at their hospital once she graduated from medical school. Word got around Mid-Childa about the first SSS grade mage in living memory, and the TSAB also sent out feelers trying to recruit her. Many people suspected that sooner or later there would be a nasty fight over which planet would get to keep her.

 

Artemis considered Nanoha's disavowal of the Moon Kingdom as a release from his obligations to it, and retired to the life of a house pet.

 

Luna was unable to come to terms with how her Queen had walked away from what she believed to be her destiny, and spent much of her time trying to figure out how to take advantage of whatever event would convince Nanoha to claim her throne, certain that such an event would one day come.

 

Alicia Testarossa was adopted by her sister's adoptive mother, Lindy Harlaown. She made a point of keeping in touch with her first friend. Her sister tried to be a part of her life as much as her duties allowed, though Alicia did find it rather strange when her younger sister adopted a child younger than Alicia's biological age before Alicia had made it out of grade school.

 

Yuuno Scrya's free time over the next several years was taken up documenting and writing papers on the various artifacts he had taken from the ruins of the Moon Kingdom. He was occasionally aided in this task by a student mage with fragmentary first-person knowledge of how their society functioned.

 

Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, Aruf, Hayate Yagami and the Wolkenritter all returned to their jobs with the TSAB.

 

The End

 

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Omake/Potential Sequel Opener: Minako's debut

 

The lights dimmed as Minako took her place on the stage with her classmates.

 

It had been three years since the war with the Dark Kingdom ended. She hadn't needed to act as a Senshi once in the years since. She no longer needed to be Sailor Venus, Senshi of Love. That part of her life was no longer dominant. Now she could afford to just be Minako Aino, student at the Crystela Music Academy.

 

It had been difficult. Minako hadn't been the most diligent of students before entering the academy, and the academy was a much more prestigious school than the junior high she had been attending in those days. But knowing that her dream career as a professional singer could depend on her making it through the academy, she persevered, and through hard work (And the fact that the absence of her Senshi duties gave her considerably more time to catch up on studying and sleep), she had achieved an honor only granted to the top students at the academy: A place in the Director's annual Charity Concert World Tour.

 

Now she was on stage in Suntory Hall, about to begin her latest concert. Her family would be somewhere in the audience, watching her. And they weren't the only ones. Seated among the nearly two thousand people in the concert hall were representatives of Japan's top recording studios, who were watching to see if anyone in the performance had the potential to be the next big star. If she could make a lasting impression tonight, then she had a good chance of landing a contract and launching a successful career as a singer. This was her big moment.

 

The concert progressed. Minako put her all into the songs that she was part of the performance of and waited for her big number. Half an hour into the concert, the Director addressed the audience to announce the next song.

 

"This next performance is by a local. A resident of Tokyo, she's been attending the Academy for the past three years. Please give a warm welcome to -" The rest of the Director's speech was interrupted by a screech. The air rippled as a swarm of creatures appeared in the concert hall. The audience screamed as the creatures swooped down upon them.

 

Minako couldn't tell if any of her former colleagues were in the audience. If anyone was to act to deal with the attack, it would have to be her. There was no way she could sneak off stage, transform, and get back to fight without being noticed. Even if there was, there wasn't time. Two thousand lives were at stake.

 

The last time Minako had gone somewhere without her transformation pen on her person somewhere had been roughly a month after first becoming Sailor Venus. Even though she hadn't needed to use it in years, the habit had remained. Reaching into a pocket of her concert gown, she pulled out her transformation pen and raised it above her head.

 

"Venus Star Power, Make Up!"

 

Sailor Venus pulled out her compact and threw it to one side of the stage. It arced around the hall, scything through several of the monsters before returning to her hand. The survivors all stopped their attacks on the civilians and turned their gaze to the young woman on the stage. Venus drew her sword and prepared to meet them.

 

Just because she hadn't needed to use her powers in years didn't mean that she hadn't kept her skills in practice. The physical combat skills she had learned were an excellent form of exercise, and she had done her best to keep in fighting trim as a matter of habit. The hard part had been the lack of any sparring partners. In both her lives, she had been trained under the assumption that any fight she got into would be life or death. The kendo dojos she had been able to find in London operated under the assumption that their students would use their skills mainly in controlled environments like tournament competitions. After she took down one dojo master in three moves (Two of which she later learned were blatantly illegal in regulation kendo), word got around, and nobody would spar with her anymore. It was time to see if she had kept enough of her edge.

 

The first creature swooped down from overhead. Venus sidestepped the attack, then turned to stab it from behind. She spun as she pulled the sword out, slashing the second monster as she did so. A third tried to claw at her face. Venus brought her sword up, shearing through the creature's arm before thrusting the blade into its chest. Bringing her foot up, she kicked the body off her sword, knocking it into a fourth opponent. This knocked it back long enough for her to cut down a fifth with a vertical slice. By this time the fourth had recovered and was attacking again, but Venus was ready for it. Sidestepping its rush, she chopped into its trailing leg. The creature fell, and was quickly finished off by a short stab. Releasing the sword, Venus stretched one arm behind her, her hand pointed out like a pistol.

 

"Crescent Beam."

 

A beam of light burst from her outstretched finger, taking down the final monster, which had been trying to sneak up on her.

 

The hall was still. Monsters had attacked the city for the first time in years, and had only been repelled because one of the performers at the concert they had attacked had turned out to be one of the magical girls that had faced the earlier monsters attacks several years previous. Not just one of them, arguably the most visible of their number, especially after the battle at Fukiage Garden.

 

Venus stepped over the bodies of her fallen opponents and took the microphone away from the stunned Director.

 

"Given the nature of the charities that this concert tour is meant to support, I'd say that the actions of our unexpected visitors was in extremely bad taste." She quipped. "In any case, if they were planning to introduce me, then their timing was badly off. My solo isn't until _after_ the intermission." There were a few weak chuckles from the audience at that. "Since this little interruption is now over, I'd like to turn the stage over to the lady who is supposed to be next on the program, Michiru Kaoih-san, who will be performing a piece of her own composition."

 

Handing back the microphone, Venus detransformed and returned to her place at the back of the stage. As she watched the young violinist she had named take the stage and perform her work, she realized that no matter what else happened as a result of the night's performance, she had _definitely_ made a lasting impression.

 

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A/N: When you are at point X, objective A is at an M degree from you and objective B is at an N degree angle from you. When you are at point Y, the objectives are at angles K and L, respectively. Where are A and B? Given the knowledge of the locations of A and B, what location and angle should you fire a dungeon bypass Z units wide so that it reaches A and gets exactly K*Z units away from B at the closest point of approach? If problems like that turned up in textbooks, kids might enjoy their math classes more.

 

Suntory Hall is a real-life concert venue in the Minato Ward of Tokyo. Its main hall seats approximately two thousand people.

 

If you liked this story, please check out my other complete multi-chapter story, The Black Hands of NERV. If you think it's rather slow going at first, I suggest considering the first six chapters to be a multi-part prologue (I wanted to start it at chapter seven, but was forced to conclude that there was no way to cover the events leading up to the merging of the Evangelion and Noir storylines in one chapter coherently halfway through a rather bad attempt to do so).

 

Any readers who are good at fanart, a picture of Lunar Excellion Nanoha would make an excellent story image.

 

I do not have any plans to write a sequel for this story at present (If nothing else, I don't really know enough about the season 2, 4 and 5 Sailor Moon villains to even attempt to do them justice). Anyone interested in writing one themselves, please contact me (There is one pseudo-sequel already, Nanoha crisis crossover by MangamanZX, which is a fusion of multiple MGLN fanfics, including this one, Shadow Crystal Mage's Takamachi Nanoha of 2814 and Nanya's Blood That Flows. Since it currently is only a prologue, I can't really recommend or disrecommend it). The notion of Death Phantom working with Jail that I saw in the WMG section of the story's trope page looked interesting. Other ideas that might be incorporated:

 

The long-term implications of the TSAB being involved in the Battle of Tokyo.

 

The Black Moon Family appearing - and trying to stop the coming of the Neo-Belkan Empire.

 

Quattro developing a massive phobia of anything pink after Nanoha's retaliation for what she did to her daughter (Though this could fit into just about _any_ post-StrikerS story).

 

Nanoha explaining to Luna that she has a title far more important that 'Your Majesty' - the one given to her by Vivio.

 

Someone having to explain to Uranus and Neptune that the Moon Princess has dismissed her Senshi, renounced her title, and gone back to her day job. If they try picking a fight with her like they did at the end of season 3, them also learning that their princess was reincarnated as a Gundam in human form.

 


End file.
